The Kölsch Language Academy's Library
The library serves as an excellent resource for anyone interested in Cologne, the Kölsch language, traditions, and regional history; the library boasts an impressive collection of nearly 20,000 books and over 3,000 audiotapes and videotapes. You can borrow almost all media - without registration and for free! All are welcome to come by to rummage and browse, as well as borrow. The current library collection is available on the online catalogue.
The Focus Is on Cologne
The vast majority of the audio materials and films, and about two-thirds of the book collection currently encompass approximately 20,000 works about Cologne. All available books, on every conceivable subject area, have been acquired. Because the history of Cologne is of particular importance, it serves as the foundation of the subject area section together with related subjects such as archeology, numismatics, and epigraphy. Works penned by established historians are placed among titles by contemporary authors. General works are available as are treatises on specific eras and topics, as well as on specific parts of the city. Catalogues and publications on the history of Cologne’s museums and the University of Cologne are also included in the collection.
One bookshelf that enjoys great popularity among avid readers is the one with High German literature, historical novels, and Cologne crime novels.
The "Kölsche Sproch" is of course a central theme. Dictionaries, linguistic works, and vernacular literature of all kinds are available. Each literary preference is covered: there are humorous and comics, entertaining stories, parodies and verse, cheerful stories and those of a more serious nature, poems, thought-provoking and religious texts and plays.
The Cologne Carnival is a big tradition in the region, to which there are myriad volumes detailing its characteristics and traditions. Also, the library maintains background information on the entire music scene - from the Cologne philharmonic and opera to street music. The CD collection includes an ever-expanding assortment of dialect-audiobooks. Visual documents of all kinds are available to library patrons.
The View Beyond the City Limits
The library has a collection that includes subjects ranging from the Rhineland, a selection of literature on linguistics, dialectology, and other regional dialects, as well as trans-regional works.
Last but not least the library's collections, which can of course also be borrowed, enrich the Kölsch diploma thesis of the Academy's seminar program students.