The Collection Development an Metadata is responsible for acquiring, cataloguing and processing monographs and periodicals in all formats for the general holdings of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Berlin State Library). Free online resources are catalogued selectively in addition to licensed electronic resources. The department regulates the standardisation of workflows for media processing, catalogue editing and digitisation, the development of subject indexing practices as well as cataloguing and indexing issues. It deals with questions about the relevant cataloguing rules and standards.

The library’s collection profile “Grundsätze der Bestandsentwicklung” was framed and will be further developed in the Collection Building Department.
The department organises the acquisition of print materials in western languages from different suppliers as well as access to electronic resources and takes part in negotiations of license agreements on a regional and national level (FAK, national licenses, project FID-Lizenzen). It coordinates the various aspects and workflows of acquisition and item maintenance of the library’s holdings, the cooperative subject indexing, metadata management, compiles the statistic data for acquisitions and deals with all invoicing in the context of acquisition, licensing and preservation.

The Collection Building Department is an official collection point for national and international official publications and is responsible for the special collection of parliamentary papers which is co-financed by the German Research Foundation.