Our own imaging studio created the majority of digital images contained in ORKA. The Hessian State Archives in Marburg as our cooperation partner have contributed many digital images from their Grimm collections, especially letters.

An ORKA user account is required to use the reading list feature as well as the crowdsourcing module. Separate user accounts are necessary for ORKA on the one hand and the Grimm Portal on the other hand. However, it is possible to use the same login data for both accounts.

After having registered an account, you can save links to objects from ORKA to your own reading list, where you can access and edit them from any device where you are logged in. In order to do so, you first have to create one or more reading lists by accessing your profile. Click on the grey icon in the top right corner of the ORKA website, and then choose “Reading lists” and “Overview of all reading lists”. Finally, click the “+”-icon next to “Add new reading list” in order to create a new list with a custom name.

You can save objects from ORKA to your list by clicking the little bookmark symbol that appears in the list of search results, as well as when accessing individual objects in the viewer.

In the crowdsourcing module, you can access recently used objects by clicking on “User options” and then “Last activities”.

1. Open the page you would like to download in ORKA
2. Click on „cite and reuse“ (to the left of the page display)
3. Under „Image“ choose either the PDF button or – for jpeg or tiff files – the Download button

Should you require assistance please write to orka@bibliothek.uni-kassel.de

Yes, most images have a resolution of 400 to 600 dpi.

Please send an email with the exact shelfmark, your preferred file format and the required resolution to sondersammlungen@bibliothek.uni-kassel.de. Please make sure to state the delivery address and, if different, the invoice address.

Currently, multi-page downloads are only possible in the pdf format. You may either download a complete work (via “cite and reuse”) or individual chapters (via “Contents” or “cite and reuse”). The exact page range cannot be chosen freely.

You can download a complete work – in pdf format only – via “cite and reuse”.

Full texts can be downloaded in .txt format as a zip file via “cite and reuse”.

Under “Search” you can select “advanced search”. You can access the help text on the search function by selecting “search” > “search” and then clicking the question mark above the search bar.

You can use the following options in the advanced search:

All fields, metadata, full text, overview pages, identifier, collection, language, document type, structure type, title, creator, publisher, place, year of publication, shelf mark. You can execute a combined search across several fields by linking search terms with AND or OR.

You can sort the search results by “Creator”, “Title”, “Creation date”, “Year of publication” or “Shelf mark” (via the “Sort by” option).

The dropdown menu under “Search” also offers the option “Timeline”, which displays a random preview of ORKA content covering a freely customisable period.

Introductory information on most of Kassel University Library’s manuscripts and historical sheet music is available in our catalogues (printed and handwritten). Most of these are available online:

http://www.uni-kassel.de/ub/historisches-erbe/sondersammlungen/handschriftenkataloge/kataloge-deutschland/kataloge-in-deutschland/kaarst-krefeld/kassel.html

Should you have further questions you may always contact the special collections team: sondersammlungen@bibliothek.uni-kassel.de

If you require an item from our collections that is not available on ORKA yet, please contact the special collections team: sondersammlungen@bibliothek.uni-kassel.de.

We will check if the requested item may be digitized and provided on ORKA free of charge.

In many cases, taking pictures of items from our collections with your own devices (without flash!) is possible in the special collections reading room, provided the item’s physical condition allow this and there are no copyright issues. Please, always check with a staff member before taking your own pictures.

You may consult, download and re-use Kassel University Library’s content on ORKA free of charge. We provide our content with the license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0
This license does not apply to:

• Content provided by cooperation partners (e.g. Hessian State Archives in Marburg, the princely library of Waldeck)
• Historical postcards and photos
• Content by creators whose date of death was during the last 70 years

Use of ORKA is logged and processed on our servers in compliance with the EU’S General Data Protection Regulation. For details, please refer to our Privacy Statement.

We request that you notify us if you use our collections for the purpose of a publication (sondersammlungen@bibliothek.uni-kassel.de). We would also like to ask you to provide us with a deposit copy of the publication. Please send this to:

Universitätsbibliothek Kassel
Sondersammlungen
Brüder-Grimm-Platz 4a
D - 34117 Kassel

Universitätsbibliothek Kassel, Landesbibliothek und Murhardsche Bibliothek der Stadt Kassel shelf mark, page

In the case of items from the collections of one of our cooperation partners, please use their shelf mark. If you are uncertain how to correctly attribute sources from one of our partners, please contact them directly.

The user bears full responsibility for compliance with any relevant copyrights, exploitation rights and/or data protection regulations. For legal information on content provided by our cooperation partners, please contact them directly.