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University of Heidelberg

About the Special Subject Collection Art History

General

The art history collections of Heidelberg University Library go back to the 19th century. Since 1949 Heidelberg University Library has participated in a system of national cooperative acquisition funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) . Heidelberg's collection focuses on:

Since 2005 South Asia Institute of University of Heidelberg and Heidelberg University Library are responsible for the special subject collection "South Asia" which is part of a programme funded by the Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) with the aim of supra-regional literature supply in Germany and partnered by research libraries.

The library has made a commitment to doing its utmost to add to the collection every work from both Germany and abroad that has been written in the above-mentioned matter disciplines. The library receives financial support by the DFG to acquire foreign literature. (Richtlinien zur überregionalen Literaturversorgung der Sondersammelgebiete und Virtuellen Fachbibliotheken (Stand 17.07.2006)

In 1993 the Saxon State and University Library was assigned the function of a special subject library for Contemporary Art (after 1945), Photography, Industrial and Graphic Design (9.11) .

Heidelberg University Library collection is wordwide available: for inhouse users with a library card, via (International) Interlibrary Loan and via Subito.

Monographs from publishing year 1972 onwards and journal titles are recorded on HEIDI (please note: library holdings with publication years prior to 1972 are partly covered, too), the Union Catalog of the South West German Library Consortium (SWB) and
artlibraries.net – Virtual Catalogue for Art History.

Collection and acquisition policy

Heidelberg University Library holds about 6,350 periodicals on art and art history, currently held about 1,300 titles. The entire collection amounts to 420,000 volumes. The library acquires about 8,000 new monographs each year. The aim is to add to the collection every work from both Germany and abroad thas has been written in the discipline of Art History. Electronic media (databases, full-texts, and image archives), E-Journals are made available on the internet.

Medieval and Modern Art History (up to 1945):
The collection covers the full range of medieval and modern art history in Europe, as well as in the United States, Canada and Australia, in so far as it was under European influence, from the Early Christian era up to 1945.

The University Library buys the complete production of relevant literature (including non-book media) on architecture, sculpture, painting and all branches of crafts. Urban architecture and the preservation of historic monuments (as seen from an art history view-point), art exhibitions and industrial archaeology are also represented. Furthermore there is a focus on general and comprehensive publications in the field of aesthetics. This applies to art aethetics, art philososphy, art psychology, art theory and general art didactics.

Related subject collections in other libraries:

The information system WEBIS serves as a central access point for all special subject collections in German libraries.

Services

  • Special Collection Catalogue of Art History

    The “Special Collection Catalogue of Art History” contains most of Heidelberg University Library's holdings on art and art history. As of February 2010 the catalogue records about 420,000 monographs and 6,350 periodicals, about 1,300 of the latter are currently held. The library's holdings on the subjects “Contemporary Art after 1945” and “Non-European Art” are recorded, too.
    Please note: items from the old stock collection or interdisciplinary items may not be recorded in our Special Collection Catalogue. To search these use the Online Catalogue HEIDI or the Digitized Alphabetical Card Catalogue DigiKat (holdings with publication date year prior to 1979).
  • Document Delivery Subito for special subject collection

    Books and articles from the special subject collection can be ordered. Your request will be processed within 48 hours and items will be sent to you directly. Books and articles on contemporary art (after 1945) including photography, industrial and graphic design can be ordered via the Delivery Service of the Saxon State and University Library Dresden. The classical and least expensive way of ordering literature from our special subject collection is via Interlibrary Loan.
  • New acquistions lists

    They are updated monthly. The new titles in the lists are linked directly to the Heidelberg Document Delivery Service (SSG-S), so that they can be ordered easily. As a special service, all interested parties can be informed by E-Mail (PDF file) of updates to the list of new acquisitions. You can register by E-Mail.
  • OLC-SSG Art / Art Science – Online Contents-Special Subject Collection

    Online Contents Art / Art Science offers access to tables of contents of art and art related journals. Currently around 417 journals are being indexed beginnining with publication year 1993. Thus the database contains approximately 645,000 records of journal articles and reviews. Online Contents Art / Art Science can be used as a bibliographic database as well as an access point to document delivery services like GBVdirekt/subito and Heidelberg Document Delivery Service SSG-S.
  • ART-Guide – Collection of Art History Internet Resources

    The database provides access to a selected collection of over 5,000 high quality art history resources on the Internet, which are detailed controlled and described according to librarian standards. It is offered by Heidelberg University Library and Saxon State and University Library Dresden and represents a central feature of arthistoricum.net. Please send your link suggestion via our suggestion form.
  • ART-Dok – Digital Repository Art History

    Heidelberg University Library offers members of the academic community worldwide the opportunity to publish their texts in electronic format on the internet free of charge. All kinds of publications (like monographs, articles, lectures) in the fields of Art Studies and European Art History can be stored on our full-text server "ART-Dok". Post-print publication is possible as well. The standard of these publications should not fall below that of traditional printed ones.
    The documents will be stored and their long-term availability guaranteed under the adress (URL). In addition, the University Library will make sure that they are accessible through the German union catalogues and the Open Archives Initiative (OAI).ART-Dok is a central feature of arthistoricum.net.
  • Digitized manuscripts and printed books

    Heidelberg University Library provides digital full-texts from its historical collections, among others:
  • Catalogue Enrichment: Table of contents of compilations and book reviews in HEIDI

    Since April 2004 Heidelberg University Library scans tables of contents of newly acquired conference proceedings, exhibition catalogues, festschrifts and other compilations. These scans are made available via SWBplus and the local catalogue HEIDI as PDF files. There you can also find all reviews published in ARTHIST and Kunstform – Rezensionsjournal für Kunstgeschichte.

DFG-funded projects

Participation in further projects

  • DigiZeitschriften – The German digital journal archive

    DigiZeitschriften is a research service. The model was JSTOR. DigiZeitschriften, together with libraries, intends to make it possible for students and researchers to access well-known German journals with long print runs. According to specialists in the field, the journal titles are among the most important in each subject area.Students and researchers can access the journals via subscribing libraries and academic institutions. The leading institution is the State and University Library of Göttingen (SUB Göttingen). Heidelberg University Library is a member of the registered company DigiZeitschriften e.V. and monitors the integration of journals on art history.
  • Supra-regional provision and support of online-databases for special subject collections in the fields of the humanities (Bavarian State Library Munich)

    A project with the aim to enable non-registered users to use databases by pay per view access. The special subject collection Art History of Heidelberg University Library ist represented there with the database Grove Art Online.
  • WEBIS

    Heidelberg University Library is connected to WEBIS (combining WEB and BibliotheksInformationsSystem (Library Information System)). WEBIS is an information system concerning the system of supra-regional literature supply in Germany.
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