German  Tags: german germanic language literature film dictionary germany austria switzerland  

The German collections grew at a modest rate during most of the twentieth century, but generous funding in the seventies and eighties allowed greatly increased acquisition both of contemporary materials and also of older literature in original editions and in reprints. Today the Library's catalog records over 55,000 books and journals in Germanic literatures and languages, most of them in Alderman Library, with more than 20,000 additional titles available in various microform sets.

Given the broad interests of the University's German Department, the German literature collection is well developed in all periods, from the Middle Ages to the present. It is strongest for the twentieth century, with particularly good holdings for Expressionism and the period between the two World Wars, but also for recent literature, and includes a good collection of literary periodicals with many first printings. The Rieger Kafka Collection in the Small Special Collections Library includes the first editions, many illustrated editions and translations, and works about Kafka. Small also has other rare works in German with a particular strength in drama of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The Robertson Media Center holds over 700 German videos and its Digital Media Lab is available to assist students developing multimedia projects. The Library pioneered in the introduction of electronic texts and offers assistance with digital projects and graduate fellowships in digital humanities through Alderman's Scholar's Lab. The Library also has a growing collection of secondary material online, including reference tools, electronic journals, and an ever increasing number of electronic books.

The holdings in German language studies include a strong collection of dictionaries and other reference works and good runs of the standard journals. Collections in Dutch and Scandinavian literature and language focus on standard authors, usually in critical editions. The Swedish collection is the most extensive, though there are strengths in Dutch (late middle ages and early modern) and Danish as well.

Strong humanities programs ensure that German history, philosophy, religion, music, art, etc are well represented. There are also good holdings for other European literatures, and the Library's collection of American literature is one of the finest anywhere. It includes many German translations of American authors.

The University Library also participates in several cooperative programs to provide additional access to German resources. The Center for Research Libraries has one of the largest collections of German dissertations in the world and will purchase on demand titles that are not in its collection. The Center also has extensive microform holdings in German literature and newspapers. The Library is also a member of the German-North American Resources Partnership, a cooperative venture of American and German research libraries to develop digital collections and share resources.