Library
The library at IGPP is a unique collection and source of information on parapsychology and frontier areas of psychology. With around 69,000 volumes and 2,200 journals (as of 2024), it is one of the largest book collections of its kind in Europe.
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The IGPP library has been part of the Freiburg University Library since the early 1970s. The collection also includes works on interdisciplinary anomalistics, including a broad spectrum of “frontier sciences” such as astrology, esotericism and New Age, spiritual healing, magic, UFO research, divining rods and the art of magic. The institute’s library also includes extensive holdings on literature, culture, religious studies, art history and folklore. It grows by around 400 new acquisitions every year and currently holds 130 journals and bulletins from all over the world, including all international journals for parapsychological research and anomalistics.
The historical basis of the Institute’s library includes the collection of around 2,500 volumes from the estate of Albert von Schrenck-Notzing (1862-1929), a Munich doctor and psychotherapist, as well as the library of around 2,000 volumes from the estate of the Swiss biologist and parapsychologist Fanny Moser (1872-1953), some of which are rare first editions from the early history of mesmerism, magnetism, occultism and psychical research. In 1970, with the help of the Volkswagen Foundation, the systematic expansion and cataloging of the IGPP library began. From 1973 to 2014, it was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) from 2000 to 2010 as a Spezialbibliothek (Special Library) and from 2011 to 2014 as a Sondersammelgebietsbibliothek (Special Collection Library, Bauer, 1994; Bauer 2015).
In 2005, a start was also made on digitizing selected historical journals and books and making them available online. Since January 2024, the two main works of the Swiss biologist and parapsychologist Dr. Fanny Moser-Hoppe, “Okkultismus – Täuschungen und Tatsachen” (Moser, 1935) and “Spuk – Irrglaube oder Wahrglaube?” (Moser, 1950) are available online.
The IGPP provides academic support and selects literature for the library in close cooperation with the Freiburg University Library, which manages the holdings. These are fully recorded in the online catalog of the Freiburg University Library and can be borrowed there. A smaller selection of core literature (signatures Frei 122-A and Frei 122-Z) is held in the IGPP as a reference collection and can be used there.
The institute library is an indispensable tool for research work in numerous scientific disciplines, but it is also aimed at the general public.
All of the Institute Library’s holdings are listed in the Freiburg University Library’s online catalog and can be borrowed directly from Freiburg University Library.
Opening Hours of the IGPP Library:
Monday and Thursday 9 to 12 am.
Monday and Thursday 9 to 12 am.
List of available Journals (December 2024)
New acquisitions
Digitization of selected IGPP Journal Holdings
The IGPP has begun digitizing selected parts of its journal holdings and making them available online in collaboration with Freiburg University Library. Aspects of preservation (threat of paper decay) and their historical source value for the cultural, social and scientific history of spiritualism, occultism, psychical research and parapsychology play an important role in their selection.
Publications on the Structure of the Library
Moser F. (1935) Okkultismus – Täuschungen und Tatsachen. Verlag Ernst Reinhardt.
Moser (1950) Spuk – Irrglaube oder Wahrglaube? GYR-Verlag.
Bauer, E. (1977). Okkulte und parapsychologische Literatur im Spiegel der Fanny-Moser-Bibliothek. Librarium, Zeitschrift der schweizerischen Bibliophilen-Gesellschaft, 20, 208–226.
Bauer, E. (Hrsg.) (1987). Verzeichnis des Zeitschriftenbestandes des “Instituts für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene e. V.”. Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie. (S. 113–240 [Sonderheft]).
Bauer, E. & Lucadou, W. v. (1987). Parapsychologie in Freiburg – Versuch einer Bestandsaufnahme . Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie, 29, 241–282.
Bauer, E. (1990). Editorial [Zeitschriften zur Parapsychologie und Anomalistik). Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie, 32, 1–5.
Bauer, E. (1990). Bibliothek des Instituts für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene e. V. Freiburg (Breisgau). Informationen. Bibliothekssystem der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau, Heft 49 (Oktober), 621–626.
Bauer, E. (1992). Grenzgebiete der Psychologie. Universität Trier: Zentralstelle für Psychologische Information und Dokumentation (Schriftenreihe “Bibliographien zur Psychologie” Nr. 85).
Bauer, E. (1994). Bibliothek des Instituts für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene e. V. In W. Kehr (Hrsg.), Handbuch der historischen Bestände in Deutschland, Band 7 (S. 184–186). Olms-Weidmann.
Ralf Ohlhoff (2009). Am Anfang schwebte der Tisch. Ein Besuch im Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene. Expressum. Informationen aus dem Freiburger Bibliothekssystem, Nr. 2., 20–21.
Bauer E. (2015). Die Bibliothek auf dem “Magischen Hügel”. In H. T. Hakl (Hrsg.), OCTAGON. Die Suche nach Vollkommenheit im Spiegel einer religionswissenschaftlichen, philosophischen und im besonderen Maße esoterischen Bibliothek (S. 79–94) (= Esoterische Forschungen in deutscher Sprache – Band 1). Scientia nova.
