College and Research Libraries


By WALTER BAUHUIS 

German Dissertations: The Present Situation 

I
N 1941, the obligation to print Ger-

man theses was suspended because of 
the war. As an alternative it was decided 
that six typewritten copies of theses were 
to be made, one copy of which was tore-
main at the faculty and five to be deliv-
ered to the respective university library. 
In 1951, pursuant to a recommendation 
of the Western German Librarians' Com-
mittee on Dissertations and Microfilms 
(Verein Deutscher Bibliothekare, Kom-

mission fiir Dissertations- und Mikro-
filmfragen; chairman, Dr. Bauhuis), it 
was decided to change the distribution 
of the five copies as follows: two copies 
to the respective university library (one 
of them for interlibrary loan or for the 
respective Landesbibliothek), one copy 
to the Deutsche Bibliothek at Frankfurt/ 
Main as Western German center, one 
copy to the Deutsche Biicherei at Leip-
zig as bibliographical center of all Ger-
man dissertations, and one copy to the 
University Library at Berlin (East) as 
the historical collecting point for disser-
tations. 

The university libraries of Eastern 
Germany send one copy of each disserta-
tion through the University Library of 
Berlin (East) to the western center of 
dissertations at Frankfurt/ Main. U nfor-
tunately, not all Western German uni-
versity libraries follow the recommended 
distribution, and therefore the Deutsche 
Bibliothek at Frankfurt/ Main does not 
receive all German dissertations. 

To make Gern1an typewritten disserta-
tions of the past years available in the 
United States is a task worthy of further 

Dr. Bauhuis is assistant directorJ Uni-
versitiitis-BibliothekJ H eid.elberg. 

MAYJ 1957 

consideration by American and German 
librarians. The question is to find funds 
for microfilming the unpublished disser-
tations, or a selection of dissertations, 
especially on the humanities. A film copy 
should perhaps be placed at the Library 
of Congress for interlibrary loan pur-
poses. 

On the other hand, American disser-
tations microfilmed by University Micro-
films, Inc., and listed in its Dissertation 
Abstracts are not easily available to Euro-
pean library users. Imaginable perhaps 
would be a plan whereby German uni-
versity libraries would send one copy of 
all printed theses to an American center 
such as the Midwest Inter-Library Cen-
ter at Chicago, in exchange for which a 
film copy of all American theses micro-
filmed by University Microfilms, Inc., 
could be deposited in a German library. 

These are sanguine plans for the fu-
ture. For the present, when an American 
library wants a particular German dis-
sertation, it should apply to the library 
of the university where the dissertation 
was made. It will then receive a copy of 
the dissertation when available, or a loan 
copy (through the international inter-
library loan service), or a microfilm 
made to order for the particular library. 

At present there is a growing tendency 
to print the German theses. Any Amer-
ican library which wants to receive ali-
or special fields of--dissertations of a 
Western German university now or in 
the future as the dissertations are printed 
should write to the respective university 
library. Already several German univer-
sity libraries obtain 100 to 150 printed 
copies for exchange all over the world, 
especially with the United States, France, . 
Holland, Switzerland, and the Scandi-
navian countries. 

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