Literature research
The territory of the Prussian province is nowadays divided into different federal states.
Therefore, literature can be found in the respective state bibliographies. The North Rhine-Westphalian Bibliography (NWBib, link in German) and / or a comprehensive search in the portal of the Virtual German State Bibliography (link in German) are particularly suitable for literature searches.
Our Rhineland department
The Rhineland is our traditional collection focus, because since the 19th century we have been acquiring literature from and about the regions which then belonged to the Prussian Rhine Province. The focus of the collection is still on literature about Cologne. More than 170,000 titles are currently available to the scientific community and the interested public. Through the structured digitalization of this collection, we are constantly expanding online access to books, newspapers and magazines.
State Library Office "Historical holdings in the Rhineland"
The State Library Office "Historical Holdings in the Rhineland" of the UCL advises and supports smaller, non-governmental and non-subject libraries in the administrative districts of Cologne and Düsseldorf. The holdings of these "Rheinland libraries" are listed in individual online portals and in the joint virtual catalogue "Rheinlandbib".