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How we preserve our collections

The badly damaged spine of a book in a before-and-after restoration comparison

Preservation as a Mission

The German National Library’s most important tasks include preserving its collections for posterity and ensuring that they can be used in the long term. In accordance with our collection mandate, we collect all publications, images and audio releases irrespective of their storage medium.
Our collection encompasses 46,3 million media works and fills many kilometres of shelving and hard drives. It grows by about seven kilometres of shelving and around 133 terabytes of storage space every year. Each type of medium requires specific measures and preservation strategies if it is to be used in the long term.

Printed publications such as books and periodicals are at risk of information loss from carrier disintegration or external factors. The usability of digital media works such as e-books and audio books is threatened by the ongoing development of file formats and system environments. Depending on the type of risk, we take the measures necessary to safeguard the carrier material and preserve the information provided in digital format.

Collection preservation policy and Digital preservation policy for digital objects

The task of preserving 46,3 million media works for the future requires a structured approach. We have defined targeted measures and quality criteria for all holding categories, taking recognised standards and research findings into account. These are recorded in our collection preservation policy.

The principles of digital preservation are set down in our digital preservation policy. This policy serves as a basis not only for our planning but also for communication with other institutions.

Preserving printed publications for the future

The objective of collection care is to preserve all the printed publications in the German National Library's holdings. It should be possible to access and use them in the long term.

Our collection preservation activities follow the principle of minimum intervention, i.e. the original substance of a media work is only handled as much as necessary and as little as possible.

Preventive preservation measures are therefore the focus of the collection care section’s work. The following measures are taken to prevent damage to media works on various carrier materials:

  • Creation of optimum storage conditions
  • Appropriate packaging of media works for archival storage
  • Measures to safeguard information
  • Mass deacidification
  • Condition monitoring
  • Preservation-oriented handling of media works

We implement conservation and restoration measures if a media work is severely damaged despite preventive measures or if it can only be used to a limited extent.

Preventive conservation

Preservation and conservation

Handling Media

Digital preservation

The objective of all digital preservation measures is to preserve and facilitate the use of digital objects through all advances and changes in technology.

This begins when the digital objects are accepted. Here it is decided what the optimum conditions are for storing the object in the long-term archive. The large number of formats and tools makes matters complex even at this stage. In keeping with the principles of digital preservation, the digital objects are backed up redundantly in several storage infrastructures at various locations. In the event of damage, we use standard restoration procedures for digital objects.

We work with the Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung Göttingen (Scientific Data Processing Association – GWDG) to ensure that our digital archiving system undergoes constant further development.

Our digital long-term preservation system

Risk management for digital objects

Preservation measures for digital objects

Certification

Long-term archiving: Completed projects

Partnerships and projects

As Germany’s national library, we also assume supraregional responsibility by

  • managing the office of the network of expertise in long-term storage of digital resources in Germany nestor
  • supporting the creation and further development of collection care and digital preservation solutions,
  • active involvement in standardisation.

Cooperations and projects

nestor – competence network for digital preservation

Collection preservation: Projects

Contact

Collection preservation

Stephanie Preuss
bestandserhaltung@dnb.de

Long-term preservation

Tobias Steinke
t.steinke@dnb.de

Short-URL: https://www.dnb.de/erhalten

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