The portal follows the principals of Open Access and Open Science. Images are published under free licences, metadata is in the public domain and data is shared with Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek and Europeana. The goal is to make access to the objects as easy as possible so research and education can use them to create more knowledge.

Göttingen State and University Library and the Centre for Collection Development at Göttingen University in cooperation with the Head Office of the GBV Common Library Network and together with the collections’ curators have developed the Portal of Collections and the Collections Database behind it. The Head Office of the GBV Common Library Network runs the database on a technical level while Göttingen State and University Library and the Centre for Collection Development update the content. From Göttingen State and University Library areas like metadata, reproduction and special collections are involved in the project. The library provides services of data conversion, digitisation of objects and is responsible for the user-friendly environment of the portal.