Cultural Heritage in the USL Bonn
The USL holds extensive collections, including medieval and modern manuscripts, bequests, autographs, music and other specialist collections as well as substantial old holdings. Some of its holdings are showcased in the Digital Collections, which are continuously being expanded.
As a State Library, the USL collects and archives digital and printed publications from the administrative district of Cologne. Besides these obligatory copies, which publishers are required by law to deposit with the USL, it also acquires literature on the Rhineland and is involved in compiling a register of regional literature as part of the North Rhine-Westphalian bibliography.
Focuses
Specialized Information Service for Romance Studies
The Specialized Information Service for Romance Studies makes specialist literature and research-related information available to Romance scholars from across Germany and provides support with research data and open access.
State Library
The Bonn University and State Library serves as the State Library for North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) together with its counterparts in Düsseldorf and Münster.
Historical collections
The USL holds extensive collections, including medieval and modern manuscripts, bequests, autographs, music and other specialist collections as well as substantial old holdings. Some of its holdings are showcased in the Digital Collections, which are continuously being expanded.
Projects and partnerships
NS-Raubgut project
The project is designed to produce the first-ever systematic review of the USL’s old holdings focusing specifically on books seized as a result of Nazi persecution and is the largest undertaking of its kind currently underway in Bonn.
Digitization of historical newspapers in NRW
The government of North Rhine-Westphalia has been funding a state-wide project to digitize its historical newspapers since 2017.
DA NRW
More and more cultural heritage is being produced in digital form, be this as published e-books or as digital photo collections, films and sound recordings. The Digital Archive for North Rhine-Westphalia (DA NRW) is a long-term archive for digital cultural assets in particular.