Help

• FAQ - Frequently asked questions

  Question: Can I search for articles in the ZDB catalogue?
  Answer: No, the ZDB catalogue does not contain any references of single articles.

  Question: Can I restrict my search to journals being available online?
  Answer: Yes, a corresponding filter is available.

  Question: Do I also find daily newspapers in the catalogue?
  Answer: Yes, daily papers are included and may be located by using the filter (publication) Frequency and chosing “daily”.

  Question: Are titles also displayed in original font?
  Answer: Yes, click the button "Options" -> Original font.

  Question: Can I search (truncate) original font with wildcards?
  Answer: Yes.

  Question: I miss the "scroll index" function.
  Answer: The option "Scroll index" that was available in the old ZDB-OPAC is replaced by the following functions:

  Autosuggest offering appropriate suggestions & choices
  Excplicit indices for "DDC categories" and "Countries of publication" in the advanced search (index for text string and codes searches)

   

  Question: Can I display a title in PICA internal format?
  Answer: No. MARC21xml, JSON-LD, Turtle and RDF / XML are the available display formats ("Options" button in the full view of a title). Information on the timestamp of a data record (last changed) can be found in field 005 of the MARC21xml format.
  Example: 20160916085527.0 .

  Question: How is the session timeout set?
  Answer: The session timeout is set to 60 minutes.

  Question: Why is a correction made in WinIBW not immediately visible in the catalogue?
  Answer: The current update interval is 10 mins. Additionaly a session timeout of 60 minutes is set, so that there can be a maximum delay of 70 minutes until the title correction becomes visible.

  Question: Are features disabled for some browsers?
  Answer: The functions of the ZDB catalogue should work in all common browsers. If you find that some features are not working, please check your browser settings to make sure cookies are enabled. If the malfunction persists, please contact the hotline http://zdb-katalog.de/imprint.xhtml#contact.

  Question: How can I link from my system to the ZDB catalogue?
  Answer: For information see http://www.zeitschriftendatenbank.de/search/linking/ (in German).

  If you require more information or would like to make any suggestions, please contact the zdb-hotline@sbb.spk-berlin.de. We will be pleased to help.

  
  
  

• Simple search
  • Search terms are case-insensitive.
  • Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT (please mind case-sensitivity) may be used.
  • Several search terms set in quotation marks (for example "Aberdeen Daily News"), will trigger a phrase search.
  • By using the drop-down menu right to the search field, queries may be restricted to a specific search-index (for example title or corporate body).
  • Search results may be narrowed down by the use of specific filters.
• Operators and wildcards

  Objective of your search		Operator*
  All search terms should appear in the title record Example: Haus AND Garten Only title records containing both entered terms will be searched for.		AND UND
  One or another term should appear in the title Example: Haus OR Garten Title records containing either the term Haus or Garten or both terms will be searched for		OR ODER
  A particular term should not appear in the title record Example: Haus NOT Garten The term Haus should always appear in title records searched for in this manner but never the term Garten.		NOT NICHT
  Wild card character for any number of characters Example: fähr* Titles containing the keywords Fähre, Fährte, Fährbrücke etc. will be found		*
  Wild card character for exactly one character Beispiel: fähr?e Titles with the keyword Fährte will be found, but not Fähre, Fährbrücke etc.		?

• Search fields

  Standard search fields	Description
  All fields	The search will be performed over all fields
  Title keywords	Title keywords
  Title exact	Searches for the exact wording of a title. The title does not need to be entered in full, alternatively the wildcard * can be used.
  Corporate body	Keywords from names of corporate bodies.
  ISSN	ISSN = International Standard Serial Number. The ISSN may be entered with or without a hyphen
  Place of publication	Keywords from places of publishers
  Place of distribution newspapers	Keywords from places of distribution (Note: places of distribution and places of publication may, but need not be identical.
  CQL-Syntax (Experte)	You may formulate queries using CQL syntax
  Additional fields in the advanced search
  Publisher	Keywords from publishers’ names.
  Standard numbers	Any identifier or number relating to a specific item. Note that a separate index for ISSN is available.
  DDC	DDC subject goups used in the ZDB.. An overview of the DDC classes may be here
  ISIL	ISIL = International Library Standard Number, z.B. DE-1a
  ZDB-ID	ZDB Identifier of a title record
  IDN	PPN (PICA-Identifier)
  Country of publication	You may either enter the country name or the 4-digit code of DIN-EN-ISO 3166-1:1998.
  Person	Keywords from personal names, for example names of editors
  Library (name)	You can search with keywords from library names. Result: all titles that are in stock of a library

• Advanced search

  Search fields may be combined in the advanced search.

  Example: title Katze AND place of publication Nürnberg

  Clicking the plus sign behind a search field will add more search fields.

  Pending digitisation acitivties of German libraries, may be located by a simple tick box.

  By activating the tick box “Newspapers” you can restrict your search to newspapers.

• Expert search (CQL syntax)

  With the expert search, search requests have to be formulated in CQL-syntax (CQL = Contextual Query Language). The query of an individual index is formulated as a pair of coded search key an associated search term, the search key code and the search term being linked by an equal sign. An overview of the search keys is provided in the table "Search keys of the expert search".

  Example:   tit=abacus

  Note: The equal sign is never followed by a blank. The encoded search keys can be written in upper case or lower case letters.
  
  

  Any number of search keys can be combined by Boolean Operators "AND", "OR" and "NOT". In the CQL syntax, "NOT" is to be understood as "AND NOT". All operators have the same priority and are evaluated from left to right.

  Example: sgn="Z 4' 58/138" AND bib="Bonn ULB"

  
  A search string for an index must always be placed in quotation marks if it contains a blank.

  Examples: sgn="DZb 90/766"
                      tst="geliebte Katze"
                      koe="Deutscher Alpenverein"

   

  Search keys of the expert search

  Search key	Description
  tit	Title keywords tit=abacus The keywords in the titles are searched for. Hint: Several keywords must be linked with AND: tit=geliebte AND tit=Katze
  tst	Exact title tst="Jahrbuch für Geschichte" Searches for the exact character sequence in the title, in the supplement title or in the subtitle. The full title does not necessarily have to be entered: Alternatively, * can be used as a placeholder at the end.
  koe	Corporate body koe=Schillergesellschaft Corporate name keywords. Corporations are organizations, societies, associations, parties, companies, churches, states, communities, authorities, universities, etc. Hint: Several keywords must be linked with AND: koe=Verein AND koe=Ingenieur
  iss	ISSN iss=1234-5678 ISSN=International Standard Serial Number. The ISSN can be entered with or without a hyphen.
  ort	Place of publication ort=Köln Keywords from places of publication Hint: Several keywords must be linked with AND: ort=Berlin AND ort=London
  ver	Publisher ver=Springer Keywords from publisher Hint: Several keywords must be linked with AND: ver=Hochschule AND ver=Polizei
  num	Standard numbers num=Kir2880 for example foreign newspaper codes or China magazine numbers
  dcz	DDC dcz=340 DDC Codes
  voz	Place of distribution (newspaper) voz=Hamburg You can use this index to search for newspapers from a specific place of distribution. (TIP: Places of distribution and places of publication can, but do not have to be, identical) Hint: Several keywords must be linked with AND: voz=Berlin AND voz=London
  zdb	ZDB-ID zdb=468-6 Identification number of a data record
  idn	IDN idn=01000386X PPN (PICA production number)
  ela	Country of publication ela=XA-ES Codes of the countries of publication
  dok	Format dok=Zeitung dok=Zeitschrift dok=Serie
  spr	Language spr=ger Codes of languages
  erf	Frequency erf=d Codes for appearance frequency
  fid	Specialised Information Services fid=FID-AAC-DE-7 table of FID
  ssg	Special subject collections ssg=1 table of SSG
  eje	First year of publication eje>1600 The first year of publicatioen can be requested using the relational operators: = (equal), < (less than), <= (less than or equal to), > (greater than), >= (greater than or equal to). The search term is expected to be a 4-digit number.
  ejl	Last year of publication ejl<=1700 The last year of publicatioen can be requested using the relational operators: = (equal), < (less than), <= (less than or equal to), > (greater than), >= (greater than or equal to). The search term is expected to be a 4-digit number.
  isl	ISIL isl=DE-1a
  sgn	Shelfmark sgn="hsa 8 z 11" oder sgn=hsa8z11 Shelfmark of a holding. Shelfmarks must match exactly and should be given in quotation marks.
  eid	Exemplar-ID eid=082748993
  bib	Library (name) bib="ub passau" You can search using keywords from the library name. Hint: Several keywords must be linked with AND: bib=Stuttgart AND bib=Chemie
  per	Person per=Goethe oder per="Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von" Keywords from personal names of editors, etc.

   

• Sorting search results

  Search results will automatically be sorted alphabetically by title. The menu “Sorting” additionally enables sorting by first year of publication.

• Filters

  Filters	Description
  Year of publication	Time period „from“ –„to“. When searching for a specific year, „from“ and „to“ have to be set to the same value.
  Online available free of charge	Search results will be restricted to those titles being freely available online.
  Language	Multiple selection possible.
  Country of publication	Multiple selection possible.
  Media type	There are several forms of media types: print, online, CD/DVD, microform, maps, sheet music, sound carriers, videos, braille.
  Frequency	Frequency of publication, e.g. daily, weekly, monthly etc.
  Format	There are the several types of publications: newspaper, journal, series.
  Digitisation	True layout: Prints were scanned and image files were generated. Master: A digital master file (raw version of the digital file resp. the original file) is available. Planned: The digitisation of a journal or newspaper is intended.
  Place of distribution newspaper	Places of distribution exclusively of newspapers. Note that the attributes of this filter are restricted to 2.000 to ensure adequate performance.

• Search history and watch list

  You will find the links “Search history” and “Watch list” on top of the website, on the right.

  The search history shows the queries you have performed so far, how these were formulated and how many results were found. When clicking on a particular query, the search will be performed again.

  In the watch list you may collect title records in order to view them again at a later stage. Titles may be added to the watch list by clicking on the bookmark icon combined with a plus . When clicking on the icon with a minus sign after selection, the title will be deleted from the watch list.

  It is possible to export titles from the watch list for provision via email or as a txt-download.

  When closing your browser session, all entries in the search history and the watch list will be automatically deleted.

• Information on individual titles

  When clicking on a title in a results list, that particular title record will be displayed offering further information like availability, parallel editions, related titles and supplements via the tabs “Title history” and “Title relations”.

  Export of title data

  It is possible to export titles from the full view representation for provision via email or as a txt-download via the button "options".

  Other data formats

  For title and holdings information select the metadata format MARC21xml. Title information is also available as JSON-LD, Turtle, and RDF/XML. All formats are available from the full view representation via the button “options”.

• Availability of publications

  The availability of a specific publication may easily be checked via the "Holdings" tab in the full view: here you will find an alphabetically sorted list (sorting by interlibrary loan region and ISIL may be manually selected) of all libraries that own the respective publication. “Details for all” will display the holdings of all libraries in question, while clicking the arrow on the right side of each line will inform you about the holdings of a chosen library.A click on the i-icon will display the library on a geographical map and the respective contact details.

  By using the menu on the left-hand side (holdings filter), you may search the holdings for a specific annual volumes. Filtering results by a specific place or an interlibrary loan region is also possible.

  Please note: If you do not find the desired annual volume in the ZDB, you should still check the catalogues of individual libraries that have reported holdings of a particular publication, since there is a slight chance that only the local catalogues offer the details holdings information.

  This restriction also applies to the following functions: Information on titles, holdings and libraries can only be displayed if the data are available in machine-readable form.

  When using the tab Holdings overview, you may easily identify where specific volumes and issues of publications are available. Under the default setting the four libraries with the largest holdings are displayed if less than 50 libraries have holdings. You may add more libraries with the menu Libraries.

  The Holdings map informs about the geographical distribution of holdings of a specific title. You can change the content by zooming or scrolling the time bar.

  The Title history provides a graphical representation of the development of a specific title and supplements over time.

  The Title relations graphically illustrates related publications. A click on any of the titles will trigger a corresponding title search.

• Copy ordering

  Ordering of journal articles

  Copies of articles may be obtained directly via the ZDB-OPAC. Please check firstly the availability of a specific article in a library of your hometown. In such cases an interlibrary loan will not be executed. The document delivery service Subito will still accept your order but will charge much higher fees than the conventional ILL service.

  What is the difference between interlibrary loan and the document delivery service Subito?

  1. Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

  Only registered users of a library can place interlibrary loan orders. Your regional library or the electronic interlibrary loan system decides which library will be asked for the missing media. You will not become a client of another library. Your own library account will be charged with the respective service fee.

  2. Document Delivery Service Subito,

  Anyone can use this service following online registration. After submitting an order, a list of libraries that own the desired resource is displayed . You may then select a library and will become a direct customer of this library.

• Delivery services

  Delivery service	Informationen about the service provider	Preconditions	Price	Payments	Time of delivery	Delivery
  Subito	Document delivery service of scientific libraries in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and China.	None. Free registration required.	Differs according to user group and type of delivery starting at 5 Euro per article.	Monthly invoice	Within 3 work days, express delivery (an extra fee will be applicable) within 1 work day	Copies: Mail, fax or e-mail Books: Mail
  BVB	Bavarian Library Network (BVB)	Library card of a participating BVB library.	At least 1,50 € fee per request. Prices vary according to the length of an article. Additional fees claimed by the respective libraries may occur.	vary by library	1-2 weeks.	The documents will be delivered to your library
  DigiBib	Digital Library North Rhine-Westphalia	Library card of a participating GBV library and registration for online interlibrary loan.
  GBV	Common Library Network of the German States Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thüringen and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.	Library card of a participating GBV library and registration for online interlibrary loan.
  HeBIS	Hessian library network (HeBIS)	Library card of a participating HeBIS library and registration for online interlibrary loan.
  kobv	KOBV library network of libraries in Berlin and Brandenburg.	Library card of a participating KOBV library and registration for online interlibrary loan