Resources for German main page
Encyclopedias
General Reference
*Note: "Reference" refers to the Reference Reading Room in the Main Library's Research Collections.
Encyclopedias:
The encyclopedias are in the Reference Reading Room immediately on the left-hand side when you walk in the door. The major German ones IU has are:
- Brockhaus Enzyklopädie (in 24 Bänden). 19. Aufl. Mannheim: F.A. Brockhaus, 1986-1996. Reference: AE27 .B84 1986
- Classic standard German encyclopedia with over 260,000 entries and
countless colored illustrations. In 24 vols., with additional volumes
for a name index/Personen Register (25), German-German dictionary
(26-29), a German-English, English-German dictionary (29), and additional
entries/Ergänzungen (30).
- Myers enzyklopädisches Lexikon. 9., vollig neu bearb. Aufl. Mannheim: Bibliographisches Institut, 1971-81 (29vols). Reference: AE27 .M75
- Many brief entries, but important topics receive more lengthy
treatment. Good bibliographies.
- Meyers Neues Lexikon. Leipzig: VEB Bibliographisches Institut, 1972-1978 (18 vols). Reference: AE27 .M76
- Since this was published in the former GDR it provides a socialist viewpoint on many issues.
Dictionaries:
German dictionaries are in the call number range PF3600, located in the Reference Reading Room, as well as in the stacks (on the 9th floor). Standard German-German dictionaries (PF3625) include Brockhaus-Wahrig, Duden, and Grimm's Deutsches Wörterbuch. German-English dictionaries (PF3640) include Harrap's, Cassell, Collins, Oxford and Langenscheidt, among others.Or try a subject search in IUCAT by typing: s=german language--dictionaries
For etymological dictionaries, try s=german language--etymology--dictionaries
A good one to use is:
Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. 23. Aufl.
Bearbeitet von Elmar Seebold. Berlin; N.Y.: de Gruyter, 1989. Research
Collections: PF3580 .K5
- For dictionaries of slang or idioms:
- s=german language--slang--dictionaries
- s=german language--idioms--dictionaries
For synonyms dictionaries: s=german language--synonyms and antonyms
For usage dictionaries: s=german language--spoken german
(All of these will be in the PF3000's)
Electronic German-English dictionary on the Web:
- LEO: Link everything online http://dict.leo.org/
- English/German dictionary
Biographical Sources
(General; for biographical information on literary figures and authors, see under Guides to studying German Literature)You can find good biographical entries on major figures in German history (including 20th century) in the encyclopedias listed above.
- Another recommended starting point is the Biography and Genealogy
Master Index (a.k.a. Biobase) on CD-ROM. (Ask for it at the Research
Collections reference desk).
- This is an index to several hundred English-language biographical sources
and includes entries for many North American and West European figures in
all disciplines and all time periods (although most are 19th and 20th
century). IU Bloomington call numbers have been loaded, so once you
print your citations out you can go directly to the shelves to find the
articles on your chosen figure.
- Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ("Auf Veranlassung seiner Majestät des Königs von Bayern"). Hrsg. durch die Historische Commission der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Leipzig: Duncker, 1875-1912 (56 vols.) Reference: CT1053 .A4
- The most comprehensive general biography of prominent Germans in all
disciplines, from the earliest period to the end of the 19th century.
- Wer ist Wer? Das Deutsche Who's Who. Lübeck: Schmidt Ronhild, 1951- (Continues Degeners Wer ist's?). Reference: CT1050 .W4 (Back issues on the 5th floor)
- Annual biographical entries for prominent Germans from both East and West.
- World Biographical Index. (Ask for CD-ROM at Reference desk)
- WBI is an index to six separate biographical collections published on
microfiche: German, British, French, Italian, Spanish and Latin American,
and American (US). The German microfiche collection is called the
Deutsches biographisches Archiv (DBA) and is located in the
Microforms department, CT1053 .D48. DBA covers sources up to the end of
the 19th century, and DBA: Neue Folge continues to the mid-20th
century.
- Internationale Personalbibliographie. 2. vollig neubearbeitete Aufl., begründet von Max Arnim; fortgeführt von Franz Hodes. Stuttgart: A. Hierseman, 1981-. Reference: Z1002 .A9
- A comprehensive bio-bibliography not limited to German notables, covering
all disciplines.
- IBN (Index Bio-bibliographicus Notorum Hominum) edidit Jean-Pierre Lobies, Francois-Pierre Lobies. Osnabrück: Biblioverlag, 1973-. Reference: Z5301 .L7
- A massive comprehensive index to biographies on figures worldwide, up to the 1960's. However, thus far it is only complete up to the last names beginning with "G", so it is only useful for names early in the alphabet. Section B: bibliography of sources. Section C: names.
Statistical information:
The latest editions of these official annual statistical abstracts of Germany, Austria and Switzerland can be found in Government Publications Reference (take escalator from main lobby up to 2nd floor). For back issues, look for the same call numbers on the seventh floor of Research Collections.
- Statistisches Jahrbuch für das vereinte Deutschland. Wiesbaden: Statistisches Bundesamt; Stuttgart: Metzler/Poeschel. HA1231 .S73
- Formed from the merger of Statistisches Jahrbuch für die
Bundesrepublik Deutschland and Statistisches Jahrbuch der DDR.
- Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Republik Österreich. Wien: Österreichisches Statistisches Zentralamt, 1992-. HA1171 .A25
- Formerly Statistisches Handbuch für die Republik
Österreich, 1950-1991.
- Statistisches Jahrbuch der Schweiz/Annuaire Statistique de la Suisse. Zürich: Bundesamt für Statistik, 1891-. HA1593 .A4
Miscellaneous practical information:
- Teleauskunft online http://www.teleauskunft.de
- White and yellow pages for Germany, by Telekom.
- Postleitzahlen http://www.nads.de/WWW/PLZ.html
- Look up German zip codes.
- Bundesbahn train schedule http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/detect.exe/bin/query.exe/e
- Timetables in English from the official Deutsche Bahn Web site.
- Frankfurt Airport http://www.frankfurt-airport.de/
- Up-to-the-minute information about arrivals and departures.
- WWW-Server in Deutschland http://www.entry.de
- Features a clickable map of all Web servers available in Germany.
Click within each state for a closeup map. Or, search the site for a
particular city or region.
- Yoodle: The Search Index of Switzerland http://www.yoodle.ch/en/default.asp
- Clickable map of Switzerland.
- Information Servers in Austria http://www.ifs.univie.ac.at/austria.html
- Maintained at the University of Vienna.
- Universal Currency Converter
http://www.xe.net/currency/
- Automatic translator http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com
- It's not perfect, but it will translate the text of relatively brief
web sites from any major European language to English and vice versa.
Available from the folks at Alta Vista.
- Movie Line http://www.movieline.de
- By suchen.de. A German database of movies, searchable by title, actor, director or genre. Great source for German film information. American films are indexed both by American and German title.
URL:http://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/nboerner/gerref.htm
Comments: eknoerle@indiana.edu
Copyright 1997, The Trustees of Indiana University