Research profile

The Herzog August Bibliothek is an independent research institute specializing in the study of European cultural history in the medieval and early modern period. The holdings of the library from these periods form an archive of Western culture that is nearly unique in its scope. Manuscripts, incunabula, early imprints and special collections such as graphic art and maps provide material for almost limitless investigation into European cultures of knowledge in a global context.

As a "laboratory for the humanities" the Herzog August Bibliothek is an institute where in-depth cataloguing and research go hand in hand. This interaction results in material-based experimental trials which can help generate new insights and modify earlier research results. The successful acquisition of outside funding allows the library to initiate numerous fixed-term cataloguing and research projects. At the moment research interest is focused on the history of knowledge, the history of religious cultures, the history of collections, and the investigation of transregional networks and cultural transfer. Particular attention is being paid to social relations, the migration of knowledge and processes of translation in media and cultural contexts. The results of these research activities are documented in print in monographs, editions and conference proceedings and in exhibitions. Increasingly, this documentation takes place in the form of digital publications and web portals. The library is actively engaged in the development of digital standards.

The special quality of Wolfenbüttel as a research environment stems from the lively communication between fellows, guest researchers and the research staff based on their common focus on the library holdings. Via its research groups and conference programme the library is partcipates in a regional, national and international network of scholarly interchange.