VD 18: Digitization and Cataloguing of 18th century prints in Germany (VD 18) in the holdings of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz - Main phase

• Applicant: Barbara Schneider-Kempf
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 288647654

The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz holds a substantial and important collection of 18th century books. In addition to many foreign publications the majority are books published in German or printed in German-speaking countries including extremely rare items. Therefore, the library already took part in the pilot and first main phase of the VD 18 which aims to build a retrospective German national bibliography for the 18th century. The results of these first phases, 17.603 digitized books (15.06.2015), are available via an OAl-interface and may be used via the VD 18 portal, the ZVDD (the central collection of digitized books) and the library's own digital collections. As the available books form only a fragment of the holdings, the library plans to digitize and catalogue a further 10.000 books in the proposed second main phase starting with monographic materials and ending with journal holdings.The VD 18 guidelines for cataloguing and digitization are applied in all steps of the project workflow. Especially before cataloguing in the GBV Common Library Network extended research takes place in the special VD18 database and other catalogue networks to avoid duplicates. In addition to national bibliographic cataloguing, the Staatsbibliothek is recording specifics of single copies (e .g. provenances or bindings). Thus, the activities of the VD 18 are fully integrated in the library's work for its historical collections.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)