Akademie der Künste

I can't speak to the Bundesarchiv, the major resource for many people, but I have had a very positive experience with the archive of the Akademie der Künste. This is a fabulous resource and I recommend glancing at their holdings if you're dealing with Berlin history, even if you're not working on an arts-related topic (http://www.adk.de, look under Stiftung Archiv). The archive is divided into a main reading room where music, theatre, and literature holdings are kept, and the Sektion Bildende Kunst, which houses the art collection and the archival materials relating to the visual arts. Particularly in Bildende Kunst the archivists at the AdK are very helpful and personable people who (I am not kidding) make archival work enjoyable.

Libraries & Archive Basics

The biggest annoyance involved with research in Germany is the way that libraries work. Many have their own cataloging system—neither Dewey nor LOC, nor any comparable thing—so you have to familiarize yourself with each one’s system. In most cases, you will not have access to the stacks, but will order your books either electronically or with an order slip. In some cases you’ll have to wait to or three days before your books are ready, so plan with this in mind. Beware of overdue fines! They are a lot more painful, at least more than I’m used to from my own university.

In Berlin your main resource will be the Staatsbibliothek, which allows you to order books online once you have a borrower’s card. This can be a great time saver, though the Stabi is extremely busy and turnaround on orders it not always the best.

Don’t be afraid to use the Stabi’s periodicals collection, which is far, far away at Westhafen. Now that the Ringbahn, the S-bahn line around the city, is running, you can get to this out-of-the way reading room much more quickly than before from a lot of points in the city. It’s a small reading room with a lot of microform readers, and my experience with the staff was surprisingly positive.

If you are working in the visual arts, you should also try the Kunstbibliothek, which is directly across the street from the Potsdamer Strasse branch of the Stabi. Apart from the fact that it has much (though not all) of the secondary material I need for my research, I enjoy working at the Kunstbibliothek because it’s smaller and nicer than the Stabi, more like a reading room. Unfortunately it’s non-circulating, and your books are only stored for 4 or 5 days.

Be adventurous: check the relevant university institute libraries if you have trouble finding a book you want. All the universities have their catalogs online, and they offer access to a central database for periodicals which lists periodical holdings nationwide.