Skip to Main ContentJohn M. Kelly Library Research Guides

German Studies

A research guide to help you find relevant books and articles as well as databases and web portals in the field of German Studies.

Monographs and Imprint Holdings

A meta-catalogue of library and book trade catalogues. The KVK does not sustain its own database, but is linked to a variety of German and international union catalogues. To start your search, mark the library catalogues you want to browse and enter your search terms.


Founded in 2005, the Central Index of Digitized Imprints is the basis for a national portal providing a general index of all scholarly digitized resources dating from the beginning of printing to the 21st century. Its aim is to provide comprehensive access to all digital source materials in Germany.

Periodical Holdings

The Electronic Journals Library is a major and recently developed database offering access to scientific and academic full-text journals held by German libraries. More than 561 German libraries and institutions collect the titles cooperatively and update the bibliographic data jointly in a central database. Enables full text accessibility. E-journals can be searched by title or by subject. English information and instruction available.

A union catalogue with over 1.2 million titles of journals, newspapers, and other serials, as well as e-journals published worldwide that are held by more than 4,300 German libraries. It does not contain article titles. To start a search, enter your search term and click on "Suchen."

Database Holdings

A continually expanding database infosystem containing information about the database holdings of German academic libraries. Alphabetical, advanced, and subject searches are possible. Result lists provide information about library holdings, access restrictions, and the databases themselves. Use the subject search to obtain an overview of the most important databases on a single topic.