The newspaper portal digiPress replaces the previous version, providing many new features. 29 already digitized newspapers from the beta version of digiPress will be migrated gradually to this system. Successively, another 1,000, predominantly Bavarian newspapers will follow as full text versions.
BSB and Stanford University Libraries have signed a cooperative agreement. Central areas of cooperation are joint activities in the field of Linked Data, the Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), cataloging, digital preservation, as well as an international exchange program for librarians and joint training opportunities. See press release.
Our new download service DaFO ('Daten für die Forschung' - 'Data for research') ist online and can be used for non-commercial purposes. We offer 300 ppi JPEG files and machine readable OCR text (if available) of 1.2 Million copyright-free books. 'DaFO' is currently still in test mode, but available worldwide.
Im vergangenen Jahr hat das MDZ im Auftrag der Bayerischen Staatskanzlei alle Ausgaben des Bayerischen Gesetz- und Verordnungsblattes seit 1945 digitalisiert und auf der Verkündunsgplattform publiziert.
Im antiken Südarabien ritzten die Menschen ihre Korrespondenz in zigarrengroße, frisch geerntete Holzstäbchen. Rechtsurkunden, Wirtschaftsverträge und Dokumente des Alltags, überwiegend in sabäischer Sprache verfasst, entstanden so vor 3.000 bis 1.500 Jahren auf dem Gebiet des heutigen Jemen. Die Bayerische Staatsbibliothek ist als einzige Institution in Deutschland im Besitz antiker jemenitischer Stäbchen. Eines dieser Stäbchen wurde vom Sonderforschungsbereich der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft zum "Manuskript des Monats" gekürt. In dem abgebildeten Stäbchendokument geht es um die Übereignung zweier Zwillingsschwestern. Die Urkunde hat im trockenen Wüstenklima des Jemen fast zwei Jahrtausende überdauert.
Our Biographical Portal was extended to include the data of the Austrian Music Lexicon (OeML). Thus the stock of seven resource will be listed, including the National biographical collections in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia, as well as two regional electronic reference works and the mentioned OeML.
Johann Jakob Fugger (1516-1575), member of the famous Augsburg merchant family, ordered the 'Ehrenspiegel' to glorify the House of Habsburg. Clemens Jäger (ca. 1500-1561) is believed to be the main author. The magnificent illustrations are associated with Jörg Breu the Younger (ca. 1510-1547). The first volume of the 'Ehrenspiegel' (Augsburg 1555) is attended to the history of the House of Habsburg up to Frederick III (1415-1493). The second volume (Augsburg 1559) addresses the life and deeds of Emperor Maximilian I (1493-1519).
Petrus Grillinger's large-sized Latin Bible (1428) is the most important work of a Salzburg studio, where several artists worked. The illuminators received many inspirations for their pictures from very different sources: from French Bibles, Bohemian illuminated manuscripts under King Wenceslaus, the workshops at the court of Vienna and works of contemporary panel painting. By combining tradition and innovation, unique works of art came into being. These artworks were role models for future Bible illustrations again – some of them miniatures of the Ottheinrich Bible. The Grillinger Bible is part of the next year's exhibition 'Bilderwelten: Buchmalerei zwischen Mittelalter und Neuzeit' ('Worlds of images: Illumination between medieval and modern times').
The 'Coordination project for the further development of Optical Character Recognition (OCR)' examines and describes methods of automatic text recognition. On the one hand, there will be developed concepts for optimal workflows. On the other hand, a standardization of OCR-related processes and their metadata is to be achieved. One of the main goals is the conceptual preparation of the complete transformation of the printed German cultural heritage (16th to 19th centuries) in a machine-readable form. Project partners are the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, in particular the German Text Archive (DTA), and the Bavarian State Library in Munich. The project started 2015 on September, 1 and is sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). Further information can be found on the project homepage of the OCR-D project.
The Bavarian State Library has an excellent Chinese collection of international standing, which includes about 230,000 printed volumes and 3,000 manuscripts. Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the oldest works – from the 7th to 18th century – are recataloged and completely digitized. Now the millionth page has been digitized in the Munich DigitiZation Center (MDZ) of the Bavarian State Library. This corresponds to approximately 11,000 printed volumes and a considerable number of manuscripts.
Digitale Zukunft – Das Medienmagazin "Einblick" des Bayerischen Rundfunks widmet sich in seiner aktuellen Ausgabe der Digitalisierung und Präsentation der einzigartigen und umfangreichen Bibliotheksbestände der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek.
Im Biographie-Portal werden weit über 100.000 Biographien aus allen gesellschaftlichen Bereichen und fast allen Epochen der deutschen, österreichischen und der schweizerischen Geschichte erschlossen. Das Portal wurde nun erweitert um Nachweise auf zahlreiche, wissenschaftlich fundierte Beiträge aus dem nationalen slowenischen Nachschlagewerk "Slovenska biografija" (SBI), das von der Slowenischen Akademie der Wissenschaften und Künste betreut wird.
The digitization of the 'Sionsharfe' has been completed, the magazine can be viewed in the Digital Collections. The 'Sionsharfe' was founded around 1876 by Johann Martin Schleyer (1831-1912), at that time pastor in Litzelstetten near Konstanz. In 1879 he used the magazine to present his constructed language Volapük for the first time to the public. His contribution about the draft of an international language was published as a supplement to the journal. The presentation of the 'Sionsharfe' is realized with support of the Martinus-Bibliothek-Mainz that holds the magazine – unique in this completeness according to current knowledge.
MDZ is working on the implementation of IIIF technology. Find out more and try our Mirador Demonstrator with some medieval manuscripts of the BSB.
With this app, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek makes more than 30 German-language first editions from its extensive collections available in digital form. We invite you to discover some masterpieces of German literature on your smart phone or tablet, in a form you have not known so far. The app can be downloaded for free from Apple's App Store.
Access to image-based resources is fundamental to research, scholarship and the transmission of cultural knowledge. Until now, much of the Internet’s image-based resources have been locked up in silos, with access restricted to custom-built applications. The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) supports uniform display of images of books, maps, scrolls, manuscripts, musical scores and archival material from participating institutions for display, manipulation, measurement and annotation by scholars and students working individually or in groups around the world. More information can be found in the attached press release (PDF) (in English) and on the homepage of the International Image Interoperability Framework.
'Sunflowers' by van Gogh, the royal crown of Bavaria, Dürer's 'Self-Portrait Wearing a Coat with Fur Collar', the fairy tale castles of Ludwig II and more than 200,000 other objects are being presented in an enhanced version of bavarikon, the Portal for art, culture and regional studies. BSB and it's Munich Digitization Centre is one of 13 contributing institutions and the technical provider of this project.
After the great success of the reading of the entire 'Inferno' of Dante's Divine Comedy in 2014, the second part of the Dante Marathon with the reading of the 'Purgatory' (Purgatorio) will take place sunday, April 26 at the BSB. The reading will take place in Italian with German surtitles. Block 1: 9.30 - 11 am / block 2: 11.30 am - 1 pm / block 3: 1.30 - 3 pm / block 4: 3.30 - 5 pm / block 5: 5.30 - 7 pm. Location: Bavarian State Library, Ludwigstr 16, 80539 Munich, Reading Room Music, Maps and Images (1st floor).
Bavaria's Minister of Science Dr. Ludwig Spaenle is to return the oldest Polish Pontifical, the so-called Pontifical of Płock to the Catholic Church of Poland this week. At the Polish Foreign Ministry, Mr. Spaenle will hand over this valuable historical manuscript to the Bishop of Płock, Piotr Libera. Basis of the return is the Washington Agreement.
An exhibition in the entry hall of our Reading Room for Music, Maps and Images presents several plans, projects and perspectives of the building of the Bavarian State Library which were not realized the intended way. You are cordially invited to follow the thought experiments of imaginary buildings and to ask yourself the question: 'What would have happened if...?'. Until September 18, Monday to Friday 9 AM to 5 PM (CET), closed on bank holidays. Admission is free.
Our library presents a small cabinet exhibition on the topic of 'Dervishes and dervish orders in the late Ottoman empire', forming part of the series 'kOSTproben' (samples from the east). It casts a light on the mystical movement in the late Ottoman empire, dervishes, dervish orders and dervish convents. Until April 17, 2015 in the entrance area of the East European, Oriental and Asian Reading Room. Monday to Friday 9 AM to 5 PM (CET), closed on bank holidays. Admission is free.
The Bavarian State Library in the Digital Age - a special issue of 'Bibliotheksforum Bayern' (in German language). The PDF version (PDF) of the issue is free of charge.
The Digital Collections have been enriched by a series of valuable autographs. Among them are letters of the philosopher Immanuel Kant, the brothers Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt, German writer E. T. A. Hoffmann, the mysterious Kaspar Hauser, as well as the leader of the Tyrolean rebellion of 1809, Andreas Hofer.
By the end of 2014, our long-term preservation system recorded 1,229,806,792 files (574 terabytes). The growth of the past year was 72 million files (62 TB). The large part of this information comes from the digitization activities in recent years.
'Deutsche Biographie', the historical and biographical information system for the German-speaking world, is online now with extended features. It includes digital full texts of more than 48,000 historical and biographical articles of the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB, 1875-1912) and the Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB, since 1953). It incudes various information from other biographical dictionaries as well as different online resources such as works and portraits. Realized in cooperation with the Historische Kommission of the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften and supported by Bundesarchiv, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, DLA Marbach, Deutsches Museum München, Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv, Foto Marburg, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.