GERN 441/541

How to find German books in the Library

Books:  Basic information about searching for books

To limit your search to German language, use the Advanced Search option and click the Language box.  Add German, and then fill in the rest of your search details (keywords, for example, or other limits).

Once you are looking at the search results page, you can also use the left column to limit by language. 

Note that this language limit includes books with even just a little German content, even if the entire book is not written in German.

Hint for Esearch: because some German and English words have the same roots, you can search for both by using the catalog's truncation symbol, which is "*"  For example, searching for literat* will find all the words with that root, such as literature, literate, literati and also Literaturgeschichte . If you want only the German term, then spell it out completely (diacritics don't matter: you'll get the same result for Frühling and Fruhling - but you will have to do a separate search for Fruehling).

Tips for finding Books related to German Literature

Finding the right books in the Library Esearch often means more than a simple keyword search.  After you have picked off the easiest finds, here are some tips to dig deeper:

  1. Combine keywords and use the asterisk to truncate. For example: german* AND medieval AND (jew* OR juda*)
     
  2. In the Advance Search, once you know a good subject heading, you can limit your search by subject heading.  For example, looking up this book, we can click on PREVIEW and notice a good subject heading, and click on it for more books that are tagged with that subject heading
     
  3. Use the Library of Congress (LC) Classification System to browse the 3rd floor shelves. Each book has a call number sticker on its spine with the LC classification number on it. 
    • German literature is found in the “PT” section of the shelves. Likewise, the “DD” section is devoted to German History. More information on the LC Classification System can be found at:  http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/
       
  4. When in doubt, ASK A LIBRARIAN!

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Bill Marino
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wmarino1@emich.edu
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