Reference works
At the Library Am Guisanplatz BiG, Federal Administration employees and Armed Forces staff have access to a wide range of online resources, including a wide range of dictionaries and encyclopaedias.
The following reference works are freely available online to employees of the Federal Administration and the Armed Forces. You do not need to register for this BiG service. You will be automatically authenticated with your work laptop (outside the federal network via VPN) and with your federal mobile phone/federal tablet (via the "Secure Web" app). Use the links listed below for access. In case of access problems, content-related or technical questions, please contact e-medien@gs-vbs.admin.ch.
In case of access problems, please contact us by e-mail at e-medien@gs-vbs.admin.ch. Proposals for further resources can be submitted via the corresponding form.
The Brockhaus Encyclopaedia is a neutral and trustworthy source for finding reliable information on a specific topic. The database allows in-depth research with the help of internal links and literature references.
The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law (MPECCoL) comprises a wide range of entries dealing with constitutional law issues. The articles focus on the nature, character, development and history of constitutional law from a comparative and global perspective.
Under the heading Help you will find, among other things, research tips for the MPECCOL database.
The Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law (MPIL) is a database that combines the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (MPEPIL) and the Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law (MPEiPro). MPEPIL is considered the standard reference work on international law. MPEiPro deals with procedural law issues beforehand.
Under the heading Help you will find, among other things, research tips for the MPIL database.
Oxford Dictionaries Premium – English (ODO)
Oxford Dictionaries Online (ODO) is an authoritative reference work for the modern English language. According to the publisher, it contains more than 350,000 words and phrases as well as over 1.9 million example sentences in English.
The renowned Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) provides information in its yearbooks on topics such as armaments, arms control, disarmament and security policy worldwide. For each state, a brief description of the armed forces and the most important armament data is written from open sources.
Under the heading Help you will find, among other things, research tips for searching the SIPRI Yearbook.
WWHO contains short biographies of approximately 134,000 living or deceased public figures. In addition to British personalities, international personalities are also portrayed.
Detailed help on how to use the database can be found in the Help section.