About us
The Fachinformationsdienst Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft (FID AVL) is a project set in motion beginning in 2016 at the Johann Christian Senckenberg University Library, with funding from the German Research Foundation. It is now in its third funding period (2023-2026). The FID AVL makes informational services available to scholars in the field of Comparative Literature and is being developed in close collaboration with the research community and with the support of a Advisory Board of Scholars. The FID AVL collaborates with various cooperation and data partners.
Our Services
For the comparative literature research community, we have developed a range of research-supporting services. All of them are available through the portal avldigital.de and are organized into the following three modules:
The module Finding literature includes an index-based search across selected catalogs and databases, the central repository CompaRe, as well as a selection of e-books for a specialized user group. The module also provides access to scientifically relevant literature acquired on a large scale by FID AVL. Additionally, there is the option of user-driven acquisition (Patron Driven Acquisition, PDA). New acquisitions by FID AVL made in the last 12 months can be accessed in a corresponding list.
The FID AVL positions itself as the primary point of contact and service provider for comparatists as well as for academic publishers in the field of Open Access through the provision of a technical hosting infrastructure for e-journals and the repository CompaRe. It supports researchers in the primary and secondary publication of research results ("golden and green road") and funds book projects in the field through an Open Access publication fund for books in Comparative Literature.
Through the community-based information and communication platform provided in the Networking module, comparatists can share their research activities across disciplinary boundaries. Users can submit calls for papers, event announcements, job postings, and information on research projects and institutions. Dedicated registries are available for dissertation and translation projects in the field. Daily updates from the Networking module are also disseminated through established communication channels.
Learn more about our academic profile
The FID AVL aims to meet the requirements to a scholary research and information platform for a Comparatist target group. Its contents follow a "broad" as well as a"narrow" profile:
Even if trends in research are often evident, the areas of interest and methodical approaches of the target group of avldigital.de are widely scattered. Objects of research objects can come from all national philologies and related disciplines such as cultural studies or arts, beyond distinctly comparative questions. Conversely, research contributions from Comparative Literature are also relevant for related disciplines.This view is taken into account when integrating content relevant to the target group into our search index. Our selection of data sources is based on this.In keeping with this broad profile, we also disseminate announcements via the Networking module. All researchers in literary studies with a comparatist focus or approach who consider themselves to belong to this broad spectrum are free to use our service.
The narrow profile is highly specialized and focuses on comparison and theory. Our goal is to consider both the current trends and the traditional areas of work in Comparative Literature in Germany and worldwide. It has been developed with the help of our scientific advisory board. Based on this profile, we acquire and license research literature.
The following research fields are covered:
Literary theory and general literature studies
- General poetics
- Literary aesthetics
- Literary semiotics
- Methods, methodology
- Research on periods and periodisation issues
Interrelations
- Intertextuality
- Intermediality
- Interartiality and comparative arts
- Interculturality
- Interlingualism
- Translation and cultural interface research
- Interdiscursivity
- Globalisation research in literature studies
Forms and motifs in international context
- Inter- und transnational history of form
- Thematology, history of materials and motifs
- Genre poetics and comparative genre research
Publications from the FID
The FID AVL continuously informs the comparative literature community about its service offerings. Here is a brief overview of project-specific publications:
- Michel, Volker / Mrotzek, Arne / Renner-Westermann Heike / Vrdolja, Ivana / Weber, Tobias (2024): Nach der Nutzungsforschung ist vor der Nutzungsforschung. Ein Tagungsbericht in o-bib. Das offene Bibliotheksjournal 11.4 (2024)
- Krampert, Larissa / Michel, Volker / Mrotzek, Arne (2024): Mehrwerte des Übersetzens : Bericht zur internationalen Tagung »Übersetzen vernetzen«. In: UniReport / Goethe-Universität Frankfurt.
- Michel, Volker u. Mrotzek, Arne (2023): Vorstellung der Services von avldigital.de mit einem Fokus auf das Modul Vernetzen. Präsentation im Rahmen der Coffee Lecture der Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Fachinformationsdienste (AG FID)
- Michel, Volker / Mrotzek, Arne / Roth, Veronika (2023): Recherchieren – Publizieren – Vernetzen: Der Fachinformationsdienst Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft. Audio-Beitrag für den Podcast UB FFM der Universitätsbibliothek J.C. Senckenberg.
- Fachinformationsdienst Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft (2023): Postkarte avldigital.de 2023.
- Michel, Volker u. Mrotzek, Arne (2022): Kurzvorstellung des Fachinformationsdienst Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft (FID AVL). Präsentation gehalten im Rahmen der Berlin Roadshow des FID AVL.
- Bubke, Karolin / Michel, Volker / Mrotzek, Arne / Dimitrova, Vanya / Renner-Westermann, Heike (2022): Fenster öffnen! Wissenschaftskommunikation, Fachinformationsdienste und Fachreferat. Ein Tagungsbericht in: o-bib. Das offene Bibliotheksjournal 9.1 (2022)
- Michel, Volker u. Mrotzek, Arne (2021): Begrüßung zum Workshop "Digital Humanities in der Literaturwissenschaft. Präsentation im Rahmen des Workshops "Digital Humanities in der Literaturwissenschaft" auf der XVIII. Tagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft, Innsbruck (Online).
- Michel, Volker u. Mrotzek, Arne (2021): Fachinformationsdienst Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft (FID AVL). Kurzvorstellung im Rahmen der DGAVL-Mitgliederversammlung auf der XVIII. Tagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft, Innsbruck (Online).
- Jung, Jakob u. Michel, Volker (2020): avldigital.de: Finding literature, publishing, and networking. Anzeige im Programmheft des "ACLA Annual Meeting (March 19th-22nd, Chicago, Illinois)".
- Jung, Jakob u. Michel, Volker (2019): Specialised Information Service Comparative Literature (SIS). Präsentation beim "XXII Congress of the Association Internationale de Littérature Compararée (AILC) / International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA)", Macau.
- Jung, Jakob u. Michel, Volker (2019): Specialised Information Service Comparative Literature (SIS). Postkarte für den "XXII Congress of the Association Internationale de Littérature Compararée (AILC) / International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA)", Macau.
- Jung, Jakob u. Michel, Volker (2019): Fachinformationsdienst Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft (FID AVL). Imagefilm im Rahmen des XXII Congress of the Association Internationale de Littérature Compararée (AILC) / International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA)", Macau.
- Becker, Doris / Jung, Jakob / Michel, Volker / Rau, Ariane / Roth, Veronika (2019): Kooperativer Aufbau neuer Informationsinfrastrukturen im FID AVL und FID Germanistik, Beitrag zur Poster-Session im Rahmen der 37. Fachtagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Spezialbibliotheken e.V. (ASpB).
- Michel, Volker / Rau, Ariane (2019): Same same but different: Kooperativer Aufbau neuer Informationsstrukturen im FID AVL und FID Germanistik, 8. openTA-Workshop.
- Jung, Jakob (2018): avldigital.de: Recherchieren, Publizieren und Vernetzen in der Komparatistik. In: LiteraturWissenschaft in Berlin – Literatur denken. 18.04.2018.
- Jung, Jakob (2017): Der Fachinformationsdienst Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft. Vortrag bei der Invited Session „Positionsbestimmung Fachreferat und Fachinformationsdienste“, 31.05.2017, 106. Deutscher Bibliothekartag.
- Michel, Volker (2017): Von den Mühen der Ebene. Die Fachrepositorien GiNDok & CompaRe. Vortrag beim Workshop „Aufbau eines medienwissenschaftlichen Repositoriums“, 16.-17.11.2017, Marburg.