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German Studies Research Guide: Books

Resources & tips to research German Studies.

Books Beyond BU

Find book titles in other libraries searching WorldCat. It will list the libraries who own titles closest to BU:
Search for an item in libraries near you:
WorldCat.org >>

You may borrow items from other libraries through Interlibrary loans. Ask a librarian for help with this free service.

Finding Books

E-BOOKS

e-Books Academic Collection (EBSCOhost): full-text access to approx. 120,000 multidisciplinary titles from academic publishers such as MIT Press, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Elsevier, etc. Also available within Academic Search Complete; for viewing online or download.

BOOKS

German Studies books are found in the basement area of the Library Learning Commons. All books have call numbers on their spine labels like "addresses" that identify the location and subject area of each book on the shelves, so you can browse them.

For German Language and Philology: the call numbers fall within this range: PF 3001--PF 5999

For German Literature and Criticism: the call numbers fall within this range: PT 1- PT 4897

Other areas: 

DD 1--DD 901             History of Germany

PN 1993.5 .G3            Motion pictures - Germany - History
 
Book titles can be found online in 2 ways:
 

1. Sofia. The easiest way to start is to use the Sofia search box on the library's home page. After results appear, refine your search to Library Catalog on the left of the screen to find books in the library. Sofia search finds both books and journal articles.

Keywords: Use Keyword to start, especially if you are unsure of an author, subject, etc. You can combine several terms: for example, "history" and "Germany".

Click the title for full display, which will yield more information such as Tables of Contents or Subjects such as: Germany - History - 1933-1945

Books may also be found by browsing upstairs in the Reference Room by the call numbers listed above.

 Browse: For works BY an author, browse by Name, last name first (example: Grass, Gunter). You may have to scroll down several pages to find particular works which are listed alphabetically after the author's name.

For works ABOUT an author and his/her works, browse by Subject under the author's last name. You can also use browse to search for any of the Subjects you may have found with a keyword search.

Here are some examples of subject searches:

German language - Dictionaries

German language - Grammar

German literature - Women authors

Germany - Civilization

Germany - History

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749-1832

Motion pictures - Germany - History

Short stories, German

Ask a librarian for help identifying the search terms best suited to your research topic