Library Support for German Studies
December 5, 1998

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The Library has, historically, provided extensive support for the language and literature programs of the University, and our collections in languages and literatures form a very large part of the Library’s holdings. Measuring, alone, the portion of the collections which are classed in the Library of Congress Classification, the P classes (languages and literatures) hold more than 300,000 titles. This classification includes some disciplines (such as Classics, Egyptology, linguistics) which are not covered in this report, but most of this number is relevant. It should be noted that the title counts include books and serials on or about the particular languages, whether in that language or in English (or other languages). They do not reveal how many books we may have in the particular language (as these books may be on totally unrelated subjects, and not of interest to the program in question)

Our German collections have received much attention in recent years. A good portion of our German collection is new, even particularly strong in contemporary authors. Still, as with the Library collections in general, we have not always kept up with reprints and newer editions of earlier German authors, and we neglected much of the secondary literature. It must also be noted that the 35,983 titles reported for German include the other Germanic languages and literatures (Netherlandic and Scandinavian), although most of them are German (33,770), with 31,661 in German literature. In contrast, our holdings for Dutch and Flemish literature are 455 titles, and Scandinavian literatures are 1,657 titles. Many of the latter are in English, including translations of major authors such as Ibsen and Strindberg, which are of interest to many students of literature. The Collection Development Librarian for German is Fred Lynden (Box A, x2946, Frederick_Lynden@brown.edu).

The library collections for German Studies include about 36,000 titles, of which some 194 are currently-received serials, all housed in the Rockefeller Library. These numbers include only material classed in PF and PT, Germanic languages and literatures. A more specific breakdown of the title count:

The table below shows the expenditures for the past three years:

Total expenditures have increased since five years ago. The declining expenditures over the past three years are partially the result of improving exchange rates. One can contrast the figures reported five years ago:

In terms of strengths and weaknesses, the Library has a very strong East German literature collection which was built between 1974 and 1989 through an exchange program. The postwar modern literature collection is also excellent since the Library had a comprehensive German literature approval plan. Unfortunately, due to the cost of this plan, critical literature as well as works of deceased authors were not purchased. Just before the last review, the Library cut back this comprehensive plan to a selective plan, and we are attempting to acquire more secondary works and the critical editions of major authors. Given the broad interests of the faculty, the Collection Development Librarian has purchased specific titles based upon faculty recommendations. These include, recently, some CD-ROM's. In recent years we also purchased a series of reprints of the works of German women writers. Occasionally, a major set, such as an online corpus of Goethe's works, cannot be purchased due to a lack of funds.

» William S. Monroe, Head, Collection Development