Subject Guides: European Studies: Reference Works

Reference Works for European Studies

Literary Reference Works

Literary Encyclopedia This link opens in a new window The Literary Encyclopedia is a reference work written by scholars and university teachers around the world. It is also a unique digital environment designed to integrate current knowledge of literature and culture and facilitate the understanding of historical contexts and connections.
Dictionary of Literary Biography (Gale) This link opens in a new window Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online provides more than 16,000 biographical and critical essays on the lives, works, and careers of the world's most influential literary figures from all eras and genres. DLB Complete Online includes the DLB main series, the DLB Documentary Series, and the DLB Yearbook Series.
Literature Resource Center (LRC)(Gale) This link opens in a new window Provides access to biographies, bibliographies, critical analysis, and Web resources of authors from every age and literary discipline. Covers more than 90,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,000 of the most-studied authors. Search by Author Name, Title, Genre, Literary Movement or Literary Themes.
Literature Criticism Online LCO (Gale) This link opens in a new window Essays in literary criticism that represent a range of modern and historical views on authors and their works across regions, eras and genres.

New Oxford Companion to Literature in French A great English-language guide to literature in French, its works, authors, movements, genres and terminologies.
The Oxford Companion to German Literature A great English-language reference work for German literature, its authors, works, literary movements, genres and terminologies.
Oxford Companion to Italian Literature A great English-language guide to Italian literature, its works, authors, literary movements, genres and terminologies.

Drama Online This link opens in a new window Complete digital library of the most studied and performed plays from the last 2,500 years. Contains scholarly notes, annotated texts, contextual information, synopsis, biographical entries, and material on acting, directing, and lighting. Features drama titles from the Methuen Drama, Arden Shakespeare lists, and the LA Theatre Works. Includes epics, monologues, and one-person plays in all time periods, as well as translations of major foreign works. Features play tools with character grids, words and speech graphs, and over 500 images.
KLG Online This link opens in a new window
(After loading, click on "WEITER" to access database)
Brill's New Pauly Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World This link opens in a new window Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World is the best encyclopedia in English for classical studies. It covers both the ancient world and the reception of classics in the modern world.

Historical & Political Reference Works

Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window Oxford Reference Online brings together language and subject reference works from one of the world's biggest reference publishers into a single cross-searchable resource. The Core Collection contains over 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. It is a fully-indexed, cross-searchable database of these books, giving subscribers unprecedented access to a comprehensive information resource. Also includes access to Oxford Digital Reference, a collection of 17 ebooks covering The Renaissance, Dance, Global Change, The Reformation, Byzantium, Theatre and Performance, The Enlightenment, Economic History, Evolution, Ancient Egypt, Food and Drink in America, The Middle Ages, American Literature, Latinos and Latinas in the United States, British Literature, Linguistics, and Children's Literature.
Brill's New Pauly Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World This link opens in a new window Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World is the best encyclopedia in English for classical studies. It covers both the ancient world and the reception of classics in the modern world.
Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) This link opens in a new window Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) is a database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. These reference materials once were accessible only in the library, but now you can access them online from the library or remotely 24/7. Because each library creates its own eBook collection, the content you see may vary if you use the database at different libraries (your school, your public library, or your office).

Biographies

World Biographical Information System (WBIS) Online This link opens in a new window World Biographical Information System Online is the most comprehensive biographical database available, providing short biographical information on 4 million people with a historical coverage from the 4th century BC to the present. It contains 3.85 million digital facsimile articles from more than 3,700 reference works, including biographical information on 2.3 million people worldwide. Access to the digitized full-text articles at BYU is limited at present to America, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), and Scandinavia.

Allgemeine/Neue Deutsche Biographie (ADB/NDB Digitales Register) This website combines the facsimile full text of over 26,000 articles from the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (General Germany Biography), published in 56 volumes, with name indexes of the more recent but less complete Neue Deutsche Biographie (New German Biography) in 21 volumes. The search interface is in German, a project of the Bavarian State Library in Munich.
Oesterreischisches Biographisches Lexikon The "Oesterreichische Biographische Lexikon 1815-1950" includes information on important personalities who lived in Austria and/or the Austrian crown lands of the Habsburg Empire who died between the years 1815 and 1950. PDF files of full-text biographies are available for most entries. The biographical dictionary is only complete from A through Schobert at the present time.

Atlases & Maps

David Rumsey Map Collection - Maps of Palestine This link opens in a new window

Atlas des Deutschen Reichs (Atlas of the German Empire) The Atlas des Deutschen Reichs by Ludwig Ravenstein (1883) helps in tracing the roots of families with origins in any part of the German empire from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. Besides Germany, the maps of this atlas also cover the bordering portions of present-day Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, and Switzerland. Due to the large scale of its maps (1:850,000) and its thorough gazetteer of place-names, one can locate even small towns and villages on the maps in the Ravenstein atlas.
United Kingdom Historic Maps Created and maintained by the Landmark Information Group, this Website offers roughly 85,000 images of historical maps of regions of the UK. The maps are dated between 1846 and 1899, and are of 1:10,560 scale. To ease navigation, Landmark has supplied a County Name Gazetteer.
Google Maps Google Maps is an online service that allows users in the U.S. and Canada to find location information, navigate through maps, and get directions quickly and easily.

Handbooks, Guides, Information & Statistics

CIA World Factbook This link opens in a new window Alternate title: World Factbook. Provides a country-by-country listing of basic statistical and factual information. A few miscellaneous areas such as Antarctica and the West Bank are also included. Entries average two pages in length. Updated annually.
Europa World Plus This link opens in a new window Europa World Plus is the online equivalent of paper Europa Yearbook, a mainstay at the Social Sciences/Education Reference Desk; a country-by-country listing with elections, economic, and other infrastructure data;
Global Road Warrior This link opens in a new window GRW is the ultimate business travel guide, providing overviews of the culture and society of 175 nations. Topics include gift giving, holidays, religion, punctuality, greetings, business ethics, attire, etiquette, women in business, communication, transportation, immunization, security alerts, maps, and currency. An excellent alternative to CultureGrams.

Classical Studies Encyclopedia

Brill's New Pauly Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World This link opens in a new window Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World is the best encyclopedia in English for classical studies. It covers both the ancient world and the reception of classics in the modern world.
Der Neue Pauly This link opens in a new window Der Neue Pauly is the German original of Brill's New Pauly. It, in turn, is a shorter, updated version of Paulys Real-Enzyklopdie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft.

Relevant Scholarly Websites

ESS Website for European Studies
ESS European Studies Guide
ESS Dutch Studies Guide
ESS French Studies Guide
ESS German Studies Guide
ESS Iberian Studies Guide
ESS Italian Studies Guide
ESS Scandinavian Studies Guide
SASSlink for Scandinavian Studies Alternate title: Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies (SASSlink). The official webpage of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies (housed at BYU) links to numerous websites dealing with Scandinavian issues.

Finding a Job

MLA Job Information List

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