Current activities

Recently, access has been enabled for researchers in Germany and at German institutes abroad to the digitized archive of the weekly journal "Moscow News" (1930 – 2014) and its short-lived sister publication "Moscow Daily News" (1932 – 1938). The source collection has been licensed by the Specialised Information Service for Russian, East and Southeast European Studies with the support of the German Research Foundation.

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek complements its renowned collection by two very rare works of the Czech artist Josef Váchal (1884 – 1969): "Ďáblova zahrádka, aneb přírodopis strašidel" ("The devil's garden, or the natural history of spirits") of the year 1924 and "Šumava umírající a romantická" ("Bohemian Forest dying and romantical") of 1931. The two impressive, leather-bound folio volumes are illustrated with exquisite coloured wood engravings and rank among the absolute masterpieces of Czech modern art between the two world wars.

The high-quality classificatory subject indexing can now also be used in the OPACplus for thematic searches for academic literature of the past two decades in the subject fields of classical studies, studies of history, musicology and eastern and south-eastern Europe. This constitutes a substantial enhancement of subject-related search possibilities.

The provider East View offers free-of-charge access to various online resources for students and researchers up to the end of July of 2020 within the scope of the license held by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. The offer runs the gamut from "Pravda" (issues up to December 2019), to "Rossiyskaya Gazeta", "Novaya Gazeta", "The Current Digest of the Russian Press" and "The Current Digest of the Chinese Press", up to the e-book collection "Essential Russian Classics".

In order to support students and teaching during the summer semester 2020, the Specialised Information Service for Russian, East and Southeast European Studies provides tutorials on information literacy at short notice, which are intended, among other things, as online study materials for independent use by students.