Digitisation of Out-of-commerce Works & other media
We digitise older German specialist literature and provide it on our thematic repository MENAdoc.
For so-called "Out-of-commerce Works", digitisation and publication is even possible before their copyright has expired.
The following requirements must be met:
- The work was published in Germany before 1 January 1966.
- The work must be out of print in bookshops.
- The work is in our inventory.
If these conditions are met, we can use the licensing service of the German National Library (DNB) as a "privileged institution" and thus obtain the right to publish.
Our primary task is to provide specialised literature for German research. Digital editions play a special role here due to their optimal accessibility. We would therefore like to utilise the extended possibilities of licensing out-of-print works for our specialist community. Experience has shown that many older publications in Oriental and Islamic Studies are still used today in teaching as classics with a reference character.
We research whether they are out of commerce, look for them in our holdings or even acquire antiquarian copies.
If all the requirements for digitisation are met, science in Germany and beyond can benefit from your suggestion in the long term.
Many classics are already in our repository. Search here on MENAdoc to see if your favourite is already available: