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Cambridge University Library

 

The Germanic collections at Cambridge University Library exist to support the curriculum and research needs of the university in the humanities and the social sciences.

A view of Lohr. Topographia Franconiæ (Franckfurt: Matthaeus Merian, [1648?]) (F164.a.1.4)

The research collections aim to include monographs and serials (both in paper and/or microform), electronic resources, audiovisual materials (when issued with print material), maps and atlases, and some older material for historical research. Although the emphasis on the acquisition of print material is still significant, several types of materials (mostly journals, indexes, and databases) are increasingly being acquired in electronic format.

The German-language collection is estimated at over 390,000 items. This figure includes early printed materials (incunables and items from the 16th century) which amount to 1,000 items. It contains a further 1,000 items published in the 17th century, 4,000 items from the 18th century, and over 250,000 items from the 19th and 20th centuries.  As of October 2017, books held by the UL published in the 21st century number over 87,000.

The German specialist is also responsible for the Library's Dutch and Scandinavian collections.  The UL contains over 22,000 books in Dutch (including 4,000 21st-century publications), 15,000 Swedish (1,300), 12,000 in Danish (450), 8,000 Norwegian (300), and 4,800 Icelandic (100).  Details about an ongoing project to add the Library's impressive early printed Dutch holdings to the Short Title Catalogue Netherlands can be read about here.

We try to feature a range of material from our collections on our blog-- please take a look at our posts featuring German material. To see our previously featured material, see our spotlight archive.

Contact us

Christian Staufenbiel
german@lib.cam.ac.uk
Phone (external line): 01223 333094
Phone (internal network): 33094