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Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen

ifa Library

The ifa Library is the world's leading specialist academic library on Foreign Cultural and Educational Policy. Its librarians have been advising policymakers, academics and students for more than 100 years. The Library’s holdings consist of half a million volumes, more than 15,000 periodicals and 120,000 international research papers. These include special collections like German translations of fiction from Africa, Asia and Latin America, in cooperation with LitProm, and publications of Goethe Institutes from around the world.

The Library is linked to the national and international interlibrary loans systems and is open to the public, offering free use of its media and services.

Online Catalogue

The Online Catalogue contains books, journals and articles on all collecting fields of the ifa Library.

Search the Catalogue of the ifa Library

New acquisitions

The Library amalgamates current and relevant information in its online catalogue, sorted according to specialist field.

Search ifa Discovery on the Forum for International Cultural Relations

Specialist research

The Library provides advisory services for students and researchers and accompanies research projects and academic work by conducting ongoing specialist research. Policymakers, cultural workers and multipliers are provided with an overview of current literature on selected topics and countries.

The ifa Library on Social Media

Library Collections

Foreign Cultural Policies and International Cultural Relations

  • Concepts of foreign cultural policies
  • Institutions of foreign cultural activity
  • History and development of foreign cultural and educational policies
  • Cultural factors of globalisation
  • Multilateral cultural cooperation (Europe, UNESCO)
  • Foreign language policies
  • Academic relations (student and scholar exchanges)
  • (German) schools abroad
  • Cultural exchanges
  • Art and literature exchanges, research into perceptions
  • Cultural factors of international media policies
  • Human rights as a part of foreign cultural and educational policies
  • Sports exchanges

Intercultural Communication and Research of Exchanges

  • Exchanges of individuals (pupils, students, academics) and subsequent changes in values and standards at home and abroad
  • Cultural standards; cultural values and norms (dos and taboos)
  • Research into exchanges (analysis of the process and conditions of intercultural contacts and encounters and their psychological, social, political, cultural and economic consequences)

Cultural Area Studies

  • Overviews of Germany’s bilateral relations
  • Cultural situations, cultural systems, cultural policies
  • Cultural factors in mass media, in art, literature and language policies
  • Cultural identities

National Stereotypes

  • Images of Germany and images of other countries
  • National stereotypes in the mass media, in the arts, in literature, in schoolbooks etc.
  • Nation branding

Minorities and Migration Research

  • Cultural encounters with migrants in Germany as a part of foreign cultural and educational policy
  • Cultural issues of foreign minority groups in Germany
  • Psychological and cultural factors of xenophobia
  • Cultural factors in the migration policies of specific countries

German-Speaking Minority Groups in Foreign Countries

  • Support of German minorities as a measure of foreign cultural and educational policy and as a part of cultural relations
  • Comprehensive surveys on the history of German minorities, including new approaches or studies of outstanding quality
  • Academically sound secondary literature on the arts and literature
  • German language press from abroad (primary and secondary literature)
  • Cultural aspects of the overseas exile
  • Cultural factors of Germany’s colonial policies

Special Collections

Contact and Opening Hours

Library

Charlottenplatz 17
D-70173 Stuttgart

Telephone: +49.711.2225.147
Email: bibliothek@ifa.de

Opening Hours

Tuesday 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Thursday 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Friday 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

The reading room will be closed on Thursday, October 17, due to the Stuttgart Science Festival.