Verteilte Digitale Inkunabelbibliothek - vdIb
Supported by the DFG, the digital library project, "Verteilte Digitale Inkunabelbibliothek - vdIb", 2003-2005, sets itself the goal of building a foundation for an overall digitization of the Incunables available at German libraries. Itis a multi-scale local projects of the following libraries, the Kölner Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek and the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel. This collaborative project aims to digitize the Incunabula as representative as possible of both collections. A large part of the Incunable's production was looked at, and there are no overlaps between the two collections thanks to a useful chronological separation between resources belonging to each of the participating libraries. In Cologne, the total amount of digitized Incunable's was initially about 500 titles and was selected within the oldest production between 1460 and 1484. In Wolfenbüttel, on the contrary, approximately 500 titles were chosen with more recent publication dates between 1485 and 1500. But the emphasis, with both libraries, was made on German origin of the prints. The incunabula digitized in the libraries represent in each case only 5 - 6% of the early printings world-wide. In Germany, the DFG is also planning to create a nationwide global "incunable portal". A general catalogue, the Incunabula Short Title Catalogue is available in Great Britain: the ISTC is the international database of 15th-century European printing created by the British Library with contributions from institutions worldwide. "Information on each item includes authors, short titles, the language of the text, printer, place and date of printing, and format. Locations are noted if they have been verified. Links are provided to online digital facsimiles wherever possible".