Open Source / Open Data

Software whose source code is open (i.e. freely viewable, modifiable and usable) is referred to as open source. There are various open source licences. The GNU General Public Licence (GPL), which applies to Linux, for example, is widely used. One of the differences between the various licences is the copyleft. This clause is responsible for ensuring that extensions to open software are also open.

The SLUB develops software components in both externally funded and internal projects and also maintains some of these together with external developers. The following projects are published via GitHub:

What is open data?

Open data is data that can be used and utilised without restrictions. The data should be electronically retrievable via a suitable interface and sufficiently described. Public institutions such as the SLUB are required to be transparent. In an ERDF-funded third-party project, we are currently preparing our bibliographic data for provision as Linked Open Data. In contrast to open data, linked open data is not just about making data available, but also about linking it with other open data.

The SLUB already offers access to the following data: