Digital Humanities
The library has traditionally been a laboratory of ideas for the humanities. The Göttingen State and University Library (SUB Göttingen) has a particular focus on digital humanities.
What are Digital Humanities?
Digital humanities (DH) is an interdisciplinary field of research that combines traditional questions from the humanities with digital methods, data and tools – such as digital editions, linguistic corpora, annotation tools and text- and language-based analysis methods. These approaches open up new perspectives on sources, enable large-scale analyses and create innovative forms of scientific work.
At the Göttingen State and University Library (SUB Göttingen), this focus is strongly anchored both institutionally and practically. The SUB promotes the integration of humanities research and digital infrastructure and supports researchers and students in the use, creation and sustainable publication of digital research data as well as tools and workflows for DH projects.
Infrastructures for the Digital Humanities
DARIAH-DE Coordination Office
A central element of this work is the DARIAH-DE Coordination Office, which is located at Göttingen State and University Library. In this role, the library coordinates the German contribution to the Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH-EU), a network for the development of sustainable digital research infrastructures for the humanities and cultural sciences and part of the European DARIAH community. This commitment promotes the exchange of methods, data and tools as well as the networking of research groups across disciplinary and national boundaries.
Text+
Another central component is the NFDI consortium Text+. Text+ focuses on text- and language-based research data, including collections, lexical resources and editions, and works to make data, tools and services available to researchers in the humanities and social sciences in a way that is sustainable, interoperable and FAIR. The Göttingen State and University Library acts both as a partner institution and as a data and competence centre.
Digital Editions
Digital editions play a central role as the core of many digital humanities activities. They not only enable the digital provision of historical sources, but also their scientific indexing, annotation and networking to an extent that was previously impossible. The combination of standards such as TEI-XML, sustainable research data management and open publication formats results in editions that are reusable, citable and available in the long term.
The Göttingen State and University Library supports researchers and students in the design, implementation and publication of digital editions – from data modelling, workflows and tools to long-term storage in reliable infrastructures. In this way, it contributes to digital editions not only making research results visible, but also becoming dynamic research environments in which new questions, analyses and forms of collaboration are possible. Central to this is the TextGrid Repository, a long-term archive for humanities research data that is operated according to internationally recognised FAIR principles and enables researchers to make their data searchable, citable and reusable.
For you as researchers and students, this means that the SUB Göttingen not only offers access to traditional media, but also a growing portfolio of digital collections, data services, advice on research data management and DH methods, training courses and access to national and international infrastructure services. This makes the library an active hub for innovative humanities research in the digital age – a place where methodological competence, technological expertise and scientific curiosity come together.
Contact
Deputy Head of Research and Development
Papendiek 14
37073 Göttingen