National and International Co-operation

The German National Library has to co-operate with national and international library institutions and to collaborate in the corresponding specialist organisations. In this context, it is an active partner in a multitude of committees and projects.

The main areas of co-operation on the national level are

• Development and application of common standards and norms in the Office for Library Standards - AfS
  • Overall control in the compilation and further development of uniform, nationally valid regulations for alphabetical and subject cataloguing
  • Overall control in the construction and care of co-operatively maintained authority files (e. g., Subject Headings Authority File (SWD), Name Authority File (PND), Corporate Bodies Authority File (GKD), Titles of Antiquity (TITAN))
  • Overall control in the maintenance and further development of machine-readable exchange formats for libraries (MAB)
• Further development of standardisation work in the area of metafiles (Metadaten)
• Fulfilment of tasks as National ISSN Centre (Nationales ISSN-Zentrum)
• Secretariat of the Consortium of Library Networks (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Verbundsysteme)
• Responsibility for collection, cataloguing and archiving for the period from 1913 within the Working Group for Collection of German Printed Matter (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sammlung Deutscher Drucke)
• Collaboration in the Alliance for the Preservation of Written Cultural Heritage (Allianz zur Erhaltung des Schriftlichen Kulturgutes), the aim of which is a national strategy for the preservation of library and archive collections
• Collaboration in the German Institute for Standardisation (DIN)
• Collaboration in the comprehensive Federal-State Working Group on European Affairs for Libraries, Archives and Museums (EUBAM) 
• Collaboration in the expansion and further development of the German Union Catalogue of Serials (ZDB)

Particularly significant on the international level are

• Collaboration in the umbrella organisation International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)
• Collaboration in the development and optimisation of methods for mass conservation in the US Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) and the European Commission on Preservation and Access (ECPA)
• Chair and secretariat of the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL)
• Collaboration in the harmonisation of data exchange formats in the Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche (LIBER)