Acquisition policy
The acquisition profile includes all printed works published in German-speaking areas, independent of content or language; outside of the German-speaking areas, works written in German are collected.
This includes in particular
- pamphlets
- personal publications
- children's and juvenile books
- government publications
- auction, exhibition and museum catalogs
- school publications
Not included are
- posters
- theatre programs
- job printings
- patent specifications
- individual book bindings
Special provisions
Broadsides of the 15th - 18th centuries are collected. However, broadsides from the period 1801-1912 can only be collected with selected focuses, for example, for the year 1848.
Although maps of the 15th - 18th centuries are collected by the appropriate library, maps published between 1801 and 1912 are acquired exclusively by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage).
Published music (musica practica) of the 15th - 18th centuries is collected by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München (Bavarian State Library). The Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage is responsible for acquisitions for the period 1801 - 1945. In 1943 the German National Library began with the collection of sheet music.
University publications are collected up to the publication date of 1870. However, since 1913 they belong to the collection mandate of the German National Library.
Newspapers from the 15th to 18th century are being collected by the relevant SDD libraries. Those published between 1801 and 1912 are being collected by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, while the German National Library will collect those published later.
Periodicals are a fundamental element of the acquisitions policy. If a periodical is published over more than one of the assigned periods, the library responsible for the period in which the periodical chiefly appeared is expected to acquire it, the other library receiving a copy.
Multi-volume works are acquired by the library responsible for the period in which the first volume was published.
Reprints which have not been changed are not collected as a rule, unless they are literary texts.