Initiated in 1997 by the Munich Digitization Center (MDZ) of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, the Digital Collections, which include over 355 million digitized pages, constitute the largest collection of their kind in Germany today. The current relaunch includes much more than a new optical design. The goal of the technological review is to improve the usability of the written cultural heritage for scholars and researchers, but also for the public in general.

The most important new features in detail:

• Optimised search: The new search function searches both the metadata of all works and the complete full texts of the digitized works.
• Usability: The majority of the digital copies (currently around 95%) are presented uniformly in the innovative IIIF viewer "Mirador 3". The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has played an important role in its development together with further national and international institutions. The IIIF technology is an international standard for making available digital images on the Internet and for their use in working environments all over the world.
• Improved readability: With respect to printed works, a new superimposition function allows superimposing the full text over the associated image.
• Detail accuracy: The high-resolution images can be zoomed in stepless manner, so that even the smallest details of the original become visible.
• Open access: Content sharing is allowed and encouraged for non-commercial purposes. There are comfortable download functions, and it is possible to use publicly accessible interfaces for directly embedding the digital copies in websites of non-commercially acting third parties.

The design of the Digital Collections is responsive and barrier-free throughout, so that the services can be accessed comfortably from all conventional types of terminals, such as smartphones, tablets and desktop computers. Re-usable components of the developed software are made available for unrestricted further use within the open source framework.

With respect to volume, interoperability and openness of access, the new Digital Collections of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek are unique Germany-wide.

Dr. Klaus Ceynowa, Director General of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek: "In comparison to the year before, the number of visits to our digital services increased by 72% in 2020. This is a clear indication that research, teaching and studies are experiencing a strong shift towards the digital space during the Corona pandemic. The Digital Collections as the digital core piece of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek include both research objects and digital copies of general cultural interest. This is exactly the right time for their relaunch."

To the Digital Collections:
https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/
To the open source software of the MDZ:
https://github.com/dbmdz

Press release for download  (PDF, 90 KB)

Contact persons

Dr. Markus Brantl
Digital Library and Bavarica
Phone  +49 89 28638-2394
markus.brantl@bsb-muenchen.de

Peter Schnitzlein
Press and Public Relations
Phone  +49 89 28638-2429
presse@bsb-muenchen.de