About Us
osmikon. Research Gateway to Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe
osmikon is the world's largest provider of specialized information on Eastern and Southeastern European Studies in the humanities and social sciences and offers a range of unique services for research and teaching.
osmikon is a joint project of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, the Collegium Carolinum, the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe - Institute of the Leibniz Association, the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, and the Austrian National Library. It is the successor portal of the Virtual Library Eastern Europe (ViFaOst), available from 2002 to 2018 as an interdisciplinary regional portal for researchers and academics. osmikon continues the services of the ViFaOst and is continuously updated in content and technology. It is also the portal of the Specialised Information Service for Russian, East and Southeast European Studies and is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Range of subjects and regions of osmikon with cooperating institutions (PDF)
Regional and subject profile of osmikon
The contents of osmikon
osmikon combines services for German research on Eastern and Southeastern Europe. As part of its research service osmikonSEARCH, osmikon strives to provide the most comprehensive directory of information resources available in Germany as well as good availability and access facilities. The central aim of the portal is to provide users with fast electronic access - whether through Open Access delivery and publication or through nationwide licensing.
Via osmikon you can:
- search for research literature and material in a large number of relevant library catalogues and special databases at the same time,
- search in approx. 80,000 books and relevant journals,
- freely access paid digital source collections and databases,
- publish in Open Access format,
- keep up to date on new books in your FID library,
- express purchase requests for literature that is difficult to obtain,
- digitise works in the public domain,
- archive web pages,
- inform yourself about research data management,
- use a wide range of information for the German East, East Central and Southeast European research community, etc.
The osmikon-Team
dr Katarzyna Adamczak / coordination of the portal; osmikonSEARCH; thematic dossiers
e-mail: katarzyna.adamczak(at)bsb-muenchen.de
dr Norbert Kunz / electronic publishing; OstDok – Eastern European documents online; OstNet – Internet resources on Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe; licensing services
e-mail: Norbert.Kunz(at)bsb-muenchen.de
dr Arnošt Štanzel / research data; OstData – Research Data Service for Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European Studies
e-mail: arnost.stanzel(at)bsb-muenchen.de
Sophie Straube / coordination of the portal; osmikonSEARCH; ARTOS – articles and reviews on Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe; new acquisition service "New Books and More on Eastern Europe"
Institutions in charge of osmikon
The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (BSB) in Munich owns one of the internationally leading Eastern European collections with historically grown holdings. Since the beginning of the 1950s, it has fulfilled the function of a reference library for the countries of Eastern and Southeastern Europe throughout Germany as part of the programme for the nationwide supply of literature funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The Eastern Europe Collection of the BSB comprises about 1.3 million volumes, including valuable manuscripts as well as diverse electronic media, microfilmed archival material and about 4,500 current journals. Since 2000, over 1.1 million of its own books have been digitised and made available in Open Access format. The library and the Specialised Information Service for Russian, East and Southeast European Studies have also been intensively engaged in electronic publishing for several years.
Eastern Europe Collection of the BSB
Specialised Information Service for Russian, East and Southeast European Studies at the BSB
Your contact person for osmikon: dr Gudrun Wirtz
The Collegium Carolinum in Munich, a research institute for the history of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, brings together internationally renowned scholars who deal with the history of and present situation in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Eastern Central Europe. The associated institute organises conferences, produces numerous publications such as the journal Bohemia and maintains a subject library with the largest special collection on Bohemica and Sudetica in Germany.
Your contact person for osmikon: dr Arpine Maniero
The Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe - Institute of the Leibniz Association in Marburg is one of the most important institutions for historical research on Eastern Central Europe. With its research library and scientific collections, it fulfils the function of a central research centre and academic service institution.
Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe
Your contact person for osmikon: dr Jürgen Warmbrunn
The Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) in Regensburg investigates the economy and history of this region. With the publication of specialist journals and its internationally important subject library, it offers an excellent infrastructure for the academic study of Eastern Europe.
Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies
Your contact person for osmikon: Tillmann Tegeler
In addition to the books, it is the eight collections with their unique objects –manuscripts, incunabula, music autographs, photographs, maps, globes – that are the foundation of the museum's international standing.
Your contact person for osmikon:
Cooperation partners
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek | Specialized Information Service Classics (Propylaeum)
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek | Specialised Information Service for Musicology (musiconn)
Bayerisches Kulturzentrum der Deutschen aus Russland
Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS)
Deutsche Welle | Fokus Ost-Südost
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung | Library
German Institute for International and Security Affairs
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin | Clio-online: Fachportal für die Geschichtswissenschaften
Institut für deutsche Kultur und Geschichte Südosteuropas
Institute of Danube Swabian History and Regional Studies
Institute for East European Law Munich
Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO)
National Library of the Czech Republic | Slovanská knihovna
Pol-Int: Polish-Studies.Interdisciplinary
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin | Specialised Information Service Slavonic Studies (Slavistik-Portal)
Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg | Specialized Information Service for Romance Philology
Ungarisches Institut München e.V.
Universität Bremen | Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen (FSO)
Universitätsbibliothek J. C. Senckenberg | Special Information Service (SIS) Jewish Studies
Universitätsbibliothek Kiel | Virtual Research Library Northern Europe (vifanord)
Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen | Fachinformationsdienst Religionswissenschaft
Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen | Specialised Information Service in Theology
Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Bonn | Specialized Information Service for Romance Philology
Reading archived versions of the Virtual Library Eastern Europe (ViFaOst)
The ViFaOst, the predecessor of osmikon, went offline on 20 June 2018. Since 2013, however, the website has been archived at regular intervals. You can access the individual time periods retroactively at any time. The archived version of the ViFaOst can be found in the digital long-term archive of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.
ViFaOst in the Website Archive of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek