Relaunch DDBpro: The portal for data partners of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library) in a new design
By Wiebke Hauschildt (Online Editor)
Almost seven years ago, in November 2015, the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek put its portal for data partners DDBpro online. The idea behind it? With the constant growth of new and existing data partners, the demands on process organisation and information provision are also increasing. How do I register an institution? How does data delivery work? What are the prerequisites for participation in the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek? This information and much more should be bundled and made available in a central place in order to provide cultural and knowledge institutions with an overview as quickly as possible.
The Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek has grown steadily in recent years, technical requirements have changed or been further developed, copyright issues and licenses for open cultural data must be treated and communicated as the complex issues they have become. Due to these developments, DDBpro was under scrutiny and the increased demands on the portal had to be taken into account. So: Everything's new! Thanks to the funding provided by the Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media) as part of the "Neustart Kultur" programme, the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek was able to completely renew DDBpro and make it more user-oriented.
Deliver data, use data
The new DDBpro is divided into two large areas: Delivering data on the one hand, using data on the other. In "Data delivery" you will find a wide range of information not only on data delivery to the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, including the individual work steps, but also on the schedule, contact persons in the Service Centre and specialist units and information on technical and legal topics (data formats, data clearing, transfer of data to the Europeana, rights information). Tiles bring you quickly to the questions that are relevant to the individual sections of the cultural and knowledge institutions. By clicking on the "participation criteria" tile, future data partners can also navigate to the registration screen.
An important navigation point in this area is also "making data visible." We support partner institutions in making their digital holdings and objects visible in the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek. These include digital communication measures on the editorial pages, via the social media channels and the newsletter of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek.
The second large area deals with "Using data" – this includes information about what happens to open cultural data as soon as they are fed into the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek. This includes the API as a possibility to reuse the data of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek via an interface in own projects as well as the option for registered cultural and knowledge institutions to curate and publish a virtual exhibition using the free tool DDBstudio.
Tip: Which objects are used for the illustration of the individual pages? The image information is provided in a red box at the end of the page – including a link to the corresponding object page in the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, so the image comes from the portal.
Feedback? We're happy about that! Are you missing an important hint or piece of information? Have you got suggestions? Or would you like to tell us how you like the new DDBpro? Just send an email to service [at] deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de (service[at]deutsche-digitale-bibliothek[dot]de)!