Extent of collections

The TIB's stock of East European literature, measured in metres, is fairly impressive. If one were to place the shelves side by side, the stock would run to more than 7 km.

Main Focus of the Collection of Original-Language Works

Since 1963, the acquisition of monographs has been conducted with a very limited scope.

• Textbooks
  Textbooks relating to the fields of electronic data processing, theoretical physics and higher mathematics are occasionally ordered.
        
• Dictionaries
  The TIB acquires bilingual and multilingual dictionaries in its special subject areas and also (to a limited extent) in the subject areas of economics, law, medicine and biology.
  
  
• Directories
  The TIB acquires directories (address books) of scientific, research and industry facilities and institutions.

• Handbooks and specialist encyclopaedias
  Targeted acquisitions are made of reference works and manuals relevant to the TIB's areas of specialisation.
  
  
• Unnumbered article collections
  As well as the numbered publication series, a number of article collections are also released in Eastern Europe as monographs. This mostly involves research projects, which have been conducted at universities or large-scale research institutions, and which can be grouped together under a common topic. These collections are acquired as comprehensively as possible.
  
  
• Unnumbered regional and international conference reports related to engineering and the natural sciences
  Conference reports represent a focal point of the collection. Regrettably, some of the conference contributions are only reproduced in an abbreviated version ("Tezisy dokladov"), amounting to the length of a single printed page.

• Journals
  Acquisitions are made of journals relating to all the TIB/UB's areas of specialisation. Since 1992, we have strictly limited new additions to our areas of specialisation, i.e. no astronomy, geology, geography, occupational medicine, economics, or biology. Subscriptions to pharmaceutical journals, particularly pharmacological journals, had already been cancelled in 1981, and have not been restored.
  We currently subscribe to more than 1,900 journal titles from the East European area. Around half of the titles come from Russia. Poland comes second, with the Ukraine and Romania in third and fourth place. These journals are kept in the library storages.
  
  
• Publication series
  Many research institutes in Eastern Europe produce their own publication series, in which they publish the results of their research work. These appear 1-4 times a year. The publication series grouping also includes the numbered regional and international conference publication series. We currently subscribe to around 500 of these publication series from the East European region.
  
  
• Deposited documents
  Deposited articles (cited as "Dep. ruk. ..." or "Deposited Doc. ...") are a type of publication typical of the former USSR. These documents are comprehensive studies which appeared in journals either in an abbreviated version or not at all. They are cross-referenced in the "Referativnyj Zurnal" report journals, though the full versions of the texts are only available on request. A copy of the full version of the text is deposited with the responsible information institution. The largest collection is held by the All-Russian Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (Vserossijskij institut naucnoj i techniceskoj informacii - VINITI). Between 1970 and 1985, the TIB regularly received copies of all the deposited documents. Our collections include around 90,000 deposited documents from this period. In 1985, deliveries were suspended for political reasons. Acquisition of selected deposited documents was restored in 1992.
  
  
• Publications from institutions in the form of preprint series
  Many scientific institutions publish their research results in their own, numbered preprint series. As far as possible, we endeavour to acquire the preprint series relevant to the TIB's special subject areas.

• Journals in translation
  A large portion of the Russian journals of natural sciences are translated into English cover-to-cover. The TIB subscribes to these journals. Reference to an available translated version of the journal can be found in the catalogue record of the original journal title. The translated journals are shelved in the relevant special reading rooms, or in the library storage.
  
  
• Individual articles in translation
  The TIB has a large collection of translations of individual journal articles.
  
  
• GOST standards in translation
  The TIB holds around 11,000 translations of the GOST Russian national standards. The majority of the standards in the index were published prior to 1990, but, in most cases, they can at least provide some preliminary information. Responsibility for the GOST original lies with the Auslandsnormenstelle DIN (i.e. International standards office) in Berlin. A series of standards corresponds to the former TGL standards of the GDR; these can also be accessed in the TIB. The numbers of the existing/reported GOST translations have been compiled in the GOST Index.
  The attachments mentioned in the compilation you can find here:
  Appendix 1 - Appendix 2 - Appendix 3
  For a part of the GOST translations we collocated the titles of these translations. The list will be completed bit by bit: Index GOST with title (Excel-file). You can order the translations at a copy fee in GetInfo aas order without search.
  
  
• SNiP standards in translation
  The TIB also stocks the Russian SNiP construction standards in their original version and, in some cases, in translation. The original texts of the SNiP you can find in GetIinfo. If you look for SNiP II-12-77, please choose category "all Numbers (NUM)"and give in the term "snip21277" or "snip2a.672" if you look for SNiP II-A.6-72. A list of all available SNiP you get if you choose category "Topic search (THE)" and give in the term "snip". The numbers of the existing/reported SNiP translations have been compiled in the SNiP Index.
  You can order the translations in GetInfo at a copy fee as order without search.
  
  
• Translations of patents
  The TIB's collections include the original versions of Russian patents (with English abstracts) from 1994 onwards, on CD-ROM (title: "Patenty Rossii"). Furthermore, between 1958 and 1993, and again since the year 2000, the TIB has stocked, under different titles, the journal "Promyslennye obrazcy, tovarnye znaki", in which Soviet patent claims are published. The translated version of this journal is also stocked by the TIB. Our stock of patent translations is relatively small, mostly comprising translations which have been produced by our freelance translators. These should therefore be viewed as rough translations which cannot be employed as a legal basis.