Metadata of the "Alter Realkatalog" (ARK) of Berlin State Library (SBB)

This dataset was created with the intent to provide a single larger set of metadata from Berlin State Library for research purposes and the development of AI applications.

The dataset comprises of descriptive metadata of 2.619.397 titles, which together form the "Alte Realkatalog" of Berlin State Library, which may be translated to "Old Subject Catalogue". The data are stored in columnar format, containing 375 columns. They were downloaded in December 2023 from the German central library system (CBS). Exemplary tasks which can be served by this dataset comprise studies on the history of books between 1500 and 1955, on the paratextual formatting of scientific books between 1800 and 1955, and on pattern recognition on the basis of bibliographical metadata.