Library

About

We gather literature from the humanities and social sciences on and from East Central Europe, ie on the history, geography and culture of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well as the historic German territories and the German settlements in East Central Europe. Apart from monographs and periodicals, we put an emphasis on collecting hard to find (“gray”) literature.

As a research library specializing in political, cultural, economic and social history, geography and culture of East Central Europe, we collect books, magazines and newspapers, sheet music, records, CDs, CD-ROMs, videos, DVDs, and electronic resources (eg, national licenses) in East and Western European languages.

Usage

Our library is open to the public and is available to all persons aged 18 years and above (from 16 years with restrictions) free of charge. Users need to be able to identify themselves with an ID or passport, apply for a library card and accept our usage regulation. In addition to assisting users, our staff also accepts research requests (see our table of charges (German)).

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Service

We do local and interlibrary loan, assist you during our working hours regarding the use of our research services and our holdings, and accept requests for research and copies according to our fee and cost shedule.

In addition, users may order media to their home adress at a charge (see usage regulation). We are grateful for your acquisition requests to complete our inventory on the history and geography of East Central Europe.

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