Frank Scholze is board member of the DDB

published 15.05.2025

On 13 May 2025, Frank Scholze, Director General of the German National Library, was elected a board member of the German Digital Library (DDB). Ute Schwens, Director at the Frankfurt am Main location, becomes a deputy board member. The DDB connects German cultural and scientific institutions and makes Germany's cultural heritage accessible digitally, free of charge and at any time on a shared platform. A competence network of 18 cultural and knowledge institutions throughout Germany, including the DNB, is responsible for the development of the German Digital Library. Its content is incorporated into Europeana, the cultural memory of Europe.

• More

HERMES research study programme

published 08.05.2025

As part of the HERMES research study programme, the German National Library funds up to four studies of its collections a year in order to strengthen data competence in the humanities and cultural sciences and better understand the demands made by researchers on its data holdings. Selected collections are made available for the studies. Two reports from the HERMES research study programme were recently published as part of our open access series “Reports from the German National Library’s DH research study programme”.

• More (only available in German)

Joint restitution

published 08.05.2025

14 German libraries and archives have returned a total of 41 books that formerly belonged to the Austrian writer Raoul Fernand Jellinek-Mercedes (1888 Algiers-1939 Baden near Vienna) in a joint act of restitution coordinated by the German National Library. After the 'annexation' of Austria in March 1938, Jellinek-Mercedes was persecuted on account of his Jewish origins.

• More

Cooperative collection of online publications

published 29.04.2025

The German National Library is expanding its services for the cooperative collection of online publications. Alongside the Berlin Central and Regional Library, with the project “NP Regional”, they developed a technical and organisational infrastructure which allows regional libraries to subsequently use digital publications from the holdings of the German National Library - without own long-term preservation or complex infrastructure development.

• More (only available in German)

Research project focusing on the digitisation of historical typeface samples

published 28.04.2025

The digitisation of typographic cultural heritage in Germany has taken a big step forward! In April 2025, four renowned institutions launched a groundbreaking project to bring historical typeface samples into the digital age: the German National Library, the Kunstbibliothek –Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz and the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz will systematically digitising more than 6,350 historical typeface samples and providing open access to them for the first time.

• More

Our offers for the young

published 24.04.2025

For a year now, you have been able to use our media and reading rooms from the age of 16. Between 16 and 19, user ID is free of charge. Up to the age of 18, you will need a completed declaration of consent and the personal ID of a parent or guardian.
Our locations in Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main have a wide range of reading rooms offering optimum work and study conditions. You can browse among 53.1 million media works, 17.5 million of which are online publications.
Our user introductions and individual research advices are the ideal entry to our world of knowledge.

• More