Biering & Brinkmann Verlag: Buchpublikationen

The Subject Catalogue of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) in Rome

The German Archaeological Institute in Rome houses the most comprehensive library devoted to classical studies. It was founded in 1829 and its collection covers the following subjects:

Classical archaeology
Egyptian archaeology
Archaeology of the Near East
Byzantine art history
Epigraphs
Numismatics
Classical history
Antique social and legal history

Right from the very first years of its existence, various scholars from this library have worked on the compilation of a subject catalogue (Realkatalog). Since 1958, a special department at the DAI has perfected a system of key-words and brought the classification up to a definitive standard. Since then, all journals and other articles in collected editions have also been recorded, a field of publication that now governs the sciences. The system of around 32,000 subjects and key-words is structured as a "tree" in several levels. As a result of the quality and completeness of the catalogue, scientists come to Rome from all over the world every year to consult the records.

A part of each year's work has appeared since 1958 in the form of the Archaeological Bibliography. However, each of the over 30 volumes compiled to date contains only a small part of the entire collection. The search is restricted to author and subject. If the search request covers several years, it is extremely time-consuming. In addition, printing of the Archaeological Bibliography was stopped in 1996. In 1985, a microfiche version of the subject catalogue was prepared. Many research departments could suddenly access the entire collection of the subject catalogue. However, it is difficult to handle and it is very hard on the eyes, in addition to which ongoing updating is technically out of the question. The microfiche is no longer available, and neither supplements nor a new edition will be forthcoming.

The logical way of making the Roman catalogue suitably accessible in all places is to use an electronic database. However, the electronic version not only offers the advantages of the original. It goes far beyond this …

At the end of 1989, an initiative made up of specialist scientists came together to realise this generally accessible database. An electronic input system was developed in close co-operation with the subject catalogue in Rome. As early as the beginning of 1990, the ongoing entries were switched from manual to computer input and the retrospective collection of data was commenced. The input of the "old collection" was completed in 1994.

Publication of the subject catalogue as a CD-ROM provides all researchers and institutes in all parts of the world with access to the entire collection of the Roman subject catalogue in a matter of seconds.

"… which makes us all happy …" (AJA 1995)
Besides online access an introducing manual exsits.