Subject guide

German Language and Culture

Overview of databases, reference works and websites for research in German language and culture.

Collection: Cultural historical context of the German language and literature, historical sociolinguistics of German, literature from Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Materials: Novels, monographies and journals

The paper collection German language and culture is located in the University Library. Most of the books are in closed stacks and can be requested through the Catalogue.

Reference collection in the reading room

A reading room with a collection of reference works is freely accessible on the first floor of the University Library. Items from this collection can not be borrowed, but it is possible to make copies or scans. In the reference collection you will find:

General	General bibliographies and reference books. History, politics en economics of the German speaking countries; cultural studies.
Linguistics	Subdivision by subject.
Literature	Per century: Bibliographies, reference works, genres, aspects, anthologies, selection of authors. Per author: Bibliographies, reference works, life and work, aspects, collected works, information about individual works.

The reference collection is organized by the Library of Congress Classification (LCC). Book titles in the field of German language and culture usually have the following subject codes:

DB 1-879 History of Austria
DD History of Germany
DQ History of Switzerland
PT 1-4897 German literature

Paper journals

Current journal issues in the field of German Language and Culture which are not available digitally, are placed in the round journal cabinets at entrance 8 on the first floor. Back volumes are located in the S-UB (basement, stairs next tot the information desk). An alphabetical list specifies the exact location of journals. Some back volumes are placed in the closed stacks and can be requested through the Catalogue.

Find our databases on German language and culture in the catalogue.

To the catalogue

Bibliographie der Deutschen Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft - BDSL is the most important bibliography of studies on German language and literature.

The Munzinger: Kritisches Lexikon zur deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur contains comprehensive information on more than 700 German-language authors from 1945 to the present.

The Deutsches Literatur Lexikon is a biographical dictionary with information about more than 8000 German authors from the Middle Ages until today as well as a dictionary of literary terminology.