Collection of non-physical media works
On this page, we provide information about the submission procedures for online publications. You will find the legal provisions governing the obligation to deposit works at the German National Library on the page Our collection mandate.
What are non-physical media works?
Non-physical media works are works published in the internet. We also refer to them as online publications or online resources.
What is subject to the legal deposit obligation?
Our collection mandate encompasses all texts, images and sound recordings accessible in the internet. These include both online publications with printed equivalents and web-only media works.
More specifically, the obligation to submit online publications refers to books (e-books), journals (e-journals), daily newspapers (e-papers), university publications, sheet music, audio books and digitised objects published in the internet. In general, a deposit obligation exists even if the German National Library also collects physical versions of the publication.
We do not collect the following online publications:
- prepublications with a limited lifetime
- pure software or application tools
- television and radio productions
- online publications that serve purely commercial or private purposes, for example product catalogs or digital photo albums
- blogs with no specific theme
We catalogue and archive the online publications, guarantee their authenticity and ensure that they will remain available in the long term. Online publications are given a Uniform Resource Name (URN) so that they can be uniquely and permanently identified and addressed. Each of the publications in our collections are indexed in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie and in our catalogue.
The decision as to which rights of use or access apply to each publication is made by you as the rights holder; alternatively, these rights are determined in accordance with the applicable copyright legislation. As default, the use of archived online publications is restricted to registered users in the reading rooms in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main. The reading room devices to access online publications have no internet connection, and it is not possible to store online publications on your own storage medium or process them in any other way. Moreover, online publications may only be printed out insofar as the copyright laws permit.
For web archiving we use automated harvesting procedures.
Submission procedures
We offer the following options for the legal deposit of online publications:
- automated procedures for larger quantities of publications and
- web forms for individual publications
Regardless of which option you choose, you are required to send us your publications together with the relevant metadata or make them available to us for harvesting.
Regardless of which option you choose, you are required to send us your publications together with the relevant metadata or make them available to us for harvesting.
We use machine-based quality assurance procedures to examine the publications deposited and determine whether they are suitable for long-term digital archiving.
More about our file format policy
If you do not wish to make mandatory deposits of online publications yourself, you can commission a service company to do so. We will provide you on request with a list of the companies we already cooperate with.
If you are subject to the legal deposit requirement and wish to commission a company to make the deposit on your behalf, or if you are a service company interested in being included in our reference list, please contact:
np-info@dnb.de
Video "Submission procedures"
[Video in German language with English subtitles.]
Registration
Personalized access gives you extended access to the services of the German National Library.You must register with us before making your first deposit. For this, please use the following link.
After registering, you will receive an automatically generated e-mail containing your password. Click on the link in this e-mail to complete the registration process.
We will activate your deposit account on request. To do this, please log in and go to “Mein Konto“/“Freischaltung beantragen für“/“Ablieferung von Netzpublikationen“ (My account/Request activation for/Submission of online publications). You are then required to complete the form and check your input on the page “Daten bestätigen” (Confirm data). After sending the form, you will receive an e-mail message from us within a period of one working day.
More about registration for the submission procedures for online publications (only available in German):
Mehr zur Registrierung für die Ablieferung von Netzpublikationen
We will gladly also contact you directly to clarify details of the deposit procedure. Please send your queries to:
np-info@dnb.de
Submission using automated procedures
When submitting larger quantities of online publications, you can choose between hotfolder and OAI-PMH procedures. You can use both procedures to submit monographs, university dissertations and theses, audio books, sheet music and periodicals.
Hotfolder
If you choose the hotfolder procedure, we will set up an FTP account for you. You can then send online publications and metadata to our server through an SFTP or WebDAV interface. This is effected by means of individual zipped transfer packets, each containing one online publication together with its metadata record.
Example of a transfer package (only available in German)
OAI-PMH
OAI-PMH is a technical protocol that describes the exact procedure of exchanging metadata and must be implemented by both parties. The submitter (server) provides a repository. The German National Library (client) can automatically obtain information about new publications and collect the metadata through an interface. Please provide a transfer URL so that we can collect the works. This is used solely to transmit the publication; we will not store it or forward it to anyone else. As the protocol is HTTP-based, all security mechanisms supported by HTTP can be used to protect the information transmitted.
More about delivery by OAI-PMH (Last updated 22 February 2012 (only available in German)
Metadata for automated procedures
Core set
Our metadata core set contains format-independent definitions of bibliographic information (e.g. “corporate bodies”) required for the automated submission of online publications
Metadata core set for all types of publication (Last updated: 28 August 2023)
Documentation
Metadata is delivered in XML-based standard formats. Detailed information about the bibliographic metadata standards that we are currently able to process automatically is provided in the following documents. They explain which XML elements must be provided when submitting online publications and which other elements should be provided if they are available. Please use the documents together with the metadata core set.
Submission by web form
The web forms can be used when depositing smaller quantities of online publications. You can use them to submit monographs, university dissertations and theses, sheet music and journals.
Monographs, university dissertations and theses and sheet music can be submitted together with the metadata using the form “Monografien/Hochschulprüfungsarbeiten/Noten“ (Monographs/university dissertations and theses/sheet music).
In the case of journals, please start by making a one-off metadata delivery using the form “Periodische Publikation – Titelmeldung” (Periodical publication – title registration). Afterwards, you can regularly deposit the articles or issues together with the metadata using the form “Periodische Publikation – Lieferung” (Periodical publication – delivery).
After logging in, retrieve the corresponding web form, fill it out and check your input on the page “Daten bestätigen” (Confirm data). After sending the form, you will receive confirmation that the data has been transmitted successfully.
Instructions for depositing monographic online publications, university dissertations/theses and sheet music using the web form (only available in German)
Instructions for registering titles and depositing periodical online publications using the web form (only available in German)
Help for using the web form (only available in German)
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Contact
Online publication service
Phone +49 341 2271-282
Last changes:
12.09.2023
Short-URL:
https://www.dnb.de/EN/netzpublikationen