Germanic Languages Collections

Collecting Goals	General Collections	Rare Book Collection	Other Web Sites
Reference Collections	Media Collections	Related Collections	Library Contacts
Electronic Collections	Microform Collections	UNC Web Sites	Faculty Library Liaison

Collecting Goals:

The Germanic languages and literatures collections support teaching and research at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the Department of Germanic Languages and in other departments and programs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They also serve as a resource for the people of the State.

Reference Collections:

The library has extensive reference materials to support the study of Germanic literatures. Access to many of the major abstracting and indexing tools, notably the MLA International Bibliography Plus Full Text via Chadwyck-Healey's LiteratureOnline and Bibliographie der deutschen Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft, is available online. Printed materials are available primarily in the Reference Department and include Zeitschriftenindex for 18th century periodicals and the Gesamtverzeichnis des deutschsprachigen Schrifttums. For further information about reference materials or help using them, please consult the Reference staff.

Electronic Collections:

The Literature Resource Center offers a wealth of biographical information about German authors, including portraits; critical essays and plot summaries of literary works; and full-text journal articles on many topics. The Library also offers LGoethes Werke auf CD-ROM. It contains the complete text of the 143 volumes of the Weimar Edition and is available for use in the Reference Department. Information about electronic journals related to the study of Germanic literatures is available on a collected list. However, the best way to find information about individual electronic serials is to enter a title search on the Library's "E-Journal Finder" web page. For further information about these titles, please consult the Reference staff. To request a title, please contact the West European Bibliographer.

General Collections:

The Library at UNC has been collecting German materials since the middle of the nineteenth century. It is still possible to find eighteenth-century imprints in Davis stacks, although they are routinely being transferred to the Rare Book Collection. During the 1980s the Library acquired several retrospective collections that support German studies. These included a small collection on "die Frauenfrage," literature of the GDR, the history of German political parties, a collection of Wilhelminiana and the European War, and German Exile Literature. Growth slowed down considerably in the late 1980s, as it did in most academic libraries. Nevertheless, the collections have continued to expand. The holdings are strongest in areas that relate to curricular interests and faculty strengths. They support the study of the standard periods, genres, topics, traditions, and general history of Germanic literatures. The Library also holds most of the works of the major and minor authors of German literature. Bibliographies, histories, and critical studies enrich the study of these materials. In response to changing approaches to the study of literature, the Library has made an effort to acquire many works of theory, methodology, and cultural studies in German and English. It has also added titles that fall into other categories, including those about women and film. A list of current print subscriptions in the discipline is available. A bibliography of German Periodicals, 17th-20th Centuries lists serials that are available to researchers in the Triangle. For further information or to request a title, please consult the West European Bibliographer.

Media Collections:

The Media Resources Center, located in the House Undergraduate Library, has about 300 feature and documentary films related to the Germanic countries that are accessible by country, title, genre and director. For further information about this collection or to request a title, please consult the Media Resources Center Librarian.

Microform Collections:

The Microform Reading Room contains many titles on microform that would be of interest to faculty and students of Germanic literatures. Particularly important is a literature collection, Bibliothek der Deutschen Literatur. For further information about microforms or help using them, please consult the Reference staff. To request a title, please contact the West European Bibliographer.

Rare Book Collection:

The Rare Book Collection in Wilson Library has a number of titles pertaining to the study of Germanic literatures. For further information, please consult the Curator for the Rare Book Collection.

Related Collections:

Collections in comparative literature, folklore, history, and linguistics extend library holdings on Germanic languages and literatures. Perkins Library, at Duke University, also has extensive collections of these materials. Users can therefore expect to find most of the resources they need in the area. The Center for Research Libraries [CRL] supplements local library holdings with additional microform collections of Germanic literatures, notably German Books before 1601 and Books printed in the Low Countries before 1601. CRL also has foreign dissertations, books and periodicals, and newspapers that may be of interest. UNC faculty and students can request unlimited amounts of materials from CRL via the web and keep them indefinitely or until another person needs them. For further information about library collections, please consult the West European Bibliographer.