At a glance

Higher Education stock at the Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum (Central Library)

The Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum (Central Library) is home to the book and journal stocks of the higher education collection, looked after by the university library as a DFG-funded higher education special collection from 1998 to 2013. Specialist literature relating to higher education is spread across various sites within the building:

• Textbook collection: This contains numerous copies of key introductory books and textbooks. These volumes can generally be borrowed by Humboldt-Universität students.
• Journal display (first floor): This displays current, unbound journal issues. Journals on higher education have a classification number beginning with the letters AL, and the philosophy of science (classifications AK 10000 - AK 53900) is also important for the subject area. Journals cannot generally be borrowed.
• Bound journals (second floor, area B):: This area has previous issues of both current and discontinued journals, also using the classifications AL or AK 10000 - AK 53900. Journals cannot generally be borrowed.
• Higher Education RVK stock (second floor, area A):: The growing book stock - consisting of monographs, anthologies and bilbiographies - is organised using the Regensburg Classification (RVK) and has classification numbers beginning with AL. You can find an overview of what the different classification marks (e.g. AL 30000) mean here. This stock is the central location for higher education literature. Philosophy of science literature is also of interest to the subject area (you can find an overview of these classification marks here). Unless indicated otherwise on the book, RVK stocks on higher education are available for loan.
• Course catalogues for German and foreign universities: The university library has an extensive collection of German and foreign university course catalogues. These are primarily available in the open stacks on the second floor, some with RVK classifications (shelves B2-3) and some with PA classifications (shelves D1-7).
• Historical and scientific special collections (sixth floor, research reading room): Rare and very old works are found in the research reading room... No items found here are available for loan.
• NC stock (fifth - seventh floor): There is a relatively high amount of specialist literature which was procured before the central library had open stacks, and is therefore hidden in the ‘numerus currens’ stock. These items have classification numbers consisting of a year, a letter from A to D and a consecutive number (e.g. 2003 A 3285). These classification numbers give no indication as to content, meaning that the only meaningful way to search the literature is using the catalogues. The majority of these items are also being converted to RVK in the medium term. More recent NC stocks (acquired since 1978) are often available for loan.

Some of these locations may therefore change or be removed over time, but stocks will still be fundamentally distributed across multiple locations. For many academic research subject areas, it is worth taking a look at neighbouring disciplines. For example, the Educational Sciences, Sociology, History or Educational Economics contain many works which are also suitable for higher education research topics. Books from the higher education section which are out on loan also may still be available from other subject areas. This large stock of books therefore offers a significantly greater number of opportunities and should be used to its full potential.