About the Library
With its collection of more than 350,000 media items, the library of the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) is one of the largest libraries of its kind in the humanities and social sciences worldwide. The aim of the library of the IOS is to collect and provide access to literature on Eastern Europe thus supporting research conducted at the Institute and by the (inter)national academic community.
It performs this task by lending literature internally, locally, and transregionally (interlibrary loans – catalog). In addition, by means of its own projects and in cooperation with the Institute's other departments and external partners, the library contributes to the creation of an electronic research environment for research into Eastern and Southeast Europe. The library is actively involved in the digital information opportunities provided by osmikon, the research gateway to Central, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, the IREON gateway, and the document server for East European studies, Ostdok, all of which have been funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The services offered by the library are geared toward the requirements of the Institute's staff and guests.
The library collection facilitates research not only on individual countries but also on the entire regions of Eastern and Southeast Europe. This wide-ranging collection opens up comparative research perspectives in the fields of economics, politics, society, and culture, both past and present. The collection contains essential literature on both the region's imperial aspects and its transformational processes. Enhanced by a very high proportion of literature that is unique to the IOS, both in Germany and, to some extent, the world, the library provides an environment of unparalleled excellence for historical and social science studies on all the countries of Eastern and Southeast Europe. The extensive stock of maps, statistics, historical newspapers, and journals, books of statute, school programs, and literature on migration and minorities in Eastern Europe constitutes a collection of outstanding importance.
The reading room houses around 600 titles of current journals as well as 5,000 general and geographical reference works, dictionaries, and compendiums for instant access. Literature from the library's closed stacks can be ordered and will be brought directly to visitors in the reading room. Institute staff and guest scholars may take borrowed items to their workplaces. Other users may borrow literature over the weekend. The in-depth classification of the stock's content enables comprehensive research and provides users with an outstanding service that makes the library catalog especially valuable.
Contact person
Tillmann Tegeler, M. A.
Head of Library and Electronic Research Infrastructure Department