Students

To start at the University of Konstanz, it is essential that you change your initial password in order to gain access to a wide range of university services. You should also set up VPN access so that you can access licensed products such as ebooks from home. Explanatory videos such as "Change the initial password", "Borrowing via self-booking" or "Using Eduroam with Android" and other important information & videos for getting started can be found here.

• KIM-Beratung: Answers questions about literature research, general questions about KIM and much more. Email: beratung.kim@uni-konstanz.de
• KIM-IT-Support: Help with problems with the university account and technical problems. Email: support@uni-konstanz.de
• Subject librarian: contact person for literature requests and research problems. Email: christine.rimland@uni-konstanz.de

Then take a look at the Library Information Centre. The KIM support team provides quick immediate assistance here.

You can purchase software and hardware from the University of Konstanz at favorable conditions or free of charge. You can find more information on this on this page.

The KIM provides students and lecturers with equipment and media technology that can be borrowed.

The Mediothek offers a variety of media, especially in the non-book area, as well as the appropriate playback devices and computers. Various scanners, the film rooms, the Rara reading room, the media lab and advice on the respective services complete the offer of the media library. Language teaching aids in numerous languages ​​can also be found here and support independent language acquisition.

The KIM offers the possibility to call up the standard university programs of the computer pools in a virtual room. If you want to use programs like Stata, SPSS or Microsoft Office packages without going to the library's computer pools, you have the following options.

AppsAnywhere: a web-based "AppStore" with access to some software products. The software will then be installed in a virtual environment and you can use the software as if it were installed locally on your premises. You can find a manual here. Mac and Linux users must also consider installing the Virtualbox.

bwLehrpool Remote: Remote access to the course environment of the PCs in the library; approx. 23 remote PCs; Select course environment section PRW. You can access bwLehrpool from outside via the following website: bwlp.uni-konstanz.de. All you need is a current browser and your university account. Depending on availability, you can choose between remote PCs or remote VMs.

The KIM offers the online storage service "cloud-uni-konstanz" based on Nextcloud. This service is free and offers cloud storage capabilities similar to Dropbox.

The library is open almost around the clock, providing access to the book sections and workspaces.Additional information can be found here.

Your UniCard is also your copy card at the same time. To do this, you have to register once on the copier / printer with your university account.

• Charging devices: Information center basement, J4, N6, Canon Service Center
• Advantage: Scanning and sending to your own Uni-Mail
• Printing costs: A4 black and white 4.8 cents; A4 colored 12 cents

More information can be found here.

The easiest way to find books and magazines that are available in print or e-versions is via the local Libero catalog. In order to be able to access ebooks, you must be logged in to the VPN or be on the university network.

The majority of economics are located on level J2. Many journals have now transitioned to e-only. The currently subscribed printed journal issues and volumes are also on level J2. The library's collection is systematically organized by subjects and further differentiated into thematic areas so that books on a particular topic are grouped together.

If you've come across a title during your research that isn't available in Konstanz, you can take advantage of our document delivery     service.

Alternatively, you can also fill out a purchase proposal. In this case, the subject specialist will review the title and likely place an order for you.

The student ID card also serves as your library card. To make reservations, access your library account, or place interlibrary loan requests, you will need an additional password. The password for your library account is the same as your university email password.

For borrowing materials at self-checkout stations in the entrance area of the information center, you'll need a PIN number , which you can assign to yourself through your library account.

You can find an instructional video on how to do this here.

You can conduct searches within the library's collection using our local catalog, Libero. KonSearch is our literature search engine that allows you to search for articles, books, and other media in both electronic and print formats simultaneously. In KonSearch, you have access to all products from all databases that the university has licensed. Therefore, KonSearch is recommended for the research phase, especially when you are looking for scholarly articles. You can find more information about the research tools here.

As soon as it comes to the research for the thesis, you need qualitative articles from the research. The University of Konstanz has licensed subject-specific databases so that you can search and find current research results in relevant journals. You can access the licensed databases via DBIS in the database information system. In DBIS you will find a list of all databases licensed in the field of economics and the journals they contain. The following databases are a good start to the search for business and academic studies:

Literature databases

Business Source Premier: Using a very detailed search mask, you can search for content from over 10,000 mainly English-language economic journals, with the newer volumes also being available in full text for over 2,000 journals

EconLit: literature database for economics. The most important economic journals are recorded and evaluated in EconLit; there is an abstract for almost all references; Over 480 journals are available with the electronic full texts.

Wiso: The Wiso databases are the relevant social and economic science databases for the German-speaking area. Various data pools can be searched using the Wiso search mask. For economists, the economics data pool is particularly relevant.

Google Scholar: is often used as a starting point and is a general scientific search engine that searches for scientific literature. The advantage is the large database. However, as a beginner in scientific research you have to consider that the hits are not checked for scientific quality and cannot be filtered across departments.

Statistical databases

Contain statistical and numerical data, such as economic indicators, company data:

OECD ilbrary: provides access to all OECD statistics and studies Genesis: database of the Federal Statistical Office

EuroStat: access to European statistics World DataBank: data on various topics worldwide

Wiso: sometimes contains company information and market data

EIKON / Datastream: company and capital market data (accessible on two PCs in the computer pool on B4 behind the KIM consulting)

If you want to search for a specific journal directly, you can search for it in the EZB and call it up.

(Note: You have to be in the VPN or in the university network to use databases / magazines).

If you are searching for data for your empirical research, in addition to your supervisor, the following page can provide you with an initial overview of different data types and portals.

For corporate and capital market data, the top database Eikon/Datastream is a suitable option (accessible on two computers in the computer pool on B4 behind the KIM advisory).

EIKON incl. Datastream is a comprehensive financial information and analysis system that delivers a wide variety of data in near real time. See the following page for more information about data types and training.

(accessible on one PC in the computer pool on B4 behind the KIM Information Desk)

The wiso database offers a large selection of German-language press, daily press, weekly press, specialist magazines, popular magazines. You can find the following newspapers in online format in wiso:

• taz
• World online
• The operation Daily mirror
• Monthly for German law
• Südkurier
• NZZ
• WM Journal for Business and Banking Law
• Handelsblatt

Another point of contact is the Nexis database (formerly LexisNexis). You can find both databases via DBIS by entering the database name in the search field.

There are many ways to find literature for a scientific paper. But how do i start? Students can register as a group (5 or more people) for an information literacy course. In the course, topics such as research in specialist databases, library pages, reference management and also basic tips for scientific work, such as evaluating sources, are dealt with. We can answer your questions about literature research during this course. Appointments are flexible. Simply contact christine.rimland@uni-konsatnz.de with a suggested date and the number of people.

If you have specific questions about research, you can also contact the specialist advisor christine.rimland@uni-konstanz.de directly. Another point of contact is the writing center, which supports you with term papers, theses, internship reports and other texts during your studies.

First, you need to decide on a program. The University of Konstanz offers free licenses for EndNote and Citavi. The decision tree (pdf) can be a support for your decision-making. You can set up your personal literature database with literature management software, which is available free of charge to all members of the University of Konstanz.

The writing center is a free service to support students in their writing process. In addition to individual advice, you will also find many helpful tips on the site.