In Germany several university libraries are obliged to procure scientific African literature for lending. These are:

These special collections came into existence about 1960 and were based on existing pre-war stocks.

Even before the establishment of the special collections programme, however, there was a traditional Africa collection in Frankfurt. The roots of the Oriental and African collection in the former municipal library go back to a donation by the founder of Ethiopian studies, Job Ludolf (1624-1704), who was also one of the first to explore African linguistics, with his papers on the language of the Hottentots. A valuable collection of Ethiopian manuscripts was conveyed to the library by the scientist Eduard Rüppell (1794-1884).