About the Library

Library Collections

Scope of the Collections

• Number of volumes – 5 million.

Special Collections

• Incunabula (cradle) and Rare Books

  • 172 Incunbula – 95 editions/titles.

  • 140 Incunabula in foreign languages – 127 editions/titles.

  • 35,000 other rare books.

• Manuscripts

  • 10,000 Hebrew manuscripts, related to every aspect of Jewish life and Jewish thought.

  • 2,000 Arabic manuscripts.

  • 1,700 Ketubbot.

  
  

• The Institute for Microfilmed Manuscripts

  • Microfilmed copies of Hebrew manuscripts from public and private sources from around the world.

  • More than 74,000 rolls of microfilm, including over 90% of the known Hebrew manuscripts. Among the photos are 200,000 segments from the Cairo Genizah, the Ginsberg Collection from the Lenin Library and other collections.
    
    

• The Eran Laor Map and Travel Book Collection

  • The collection includes ancient maps, from as early as the 15th century, ancient atlases, travel books and guides, Biblical dictionaries and Bible volumes featuring maps.

  • Maps of Jerusalem and the Land of Israel make up the central collection. The collection also includes ancient maps of the rest of the world, modern maps of Israel and its cities (before and after the establishment of the State), current maps that are published in Israel and deposited with the Library as per the Books Law. In total the map collection contains some 6,000 ancient maps (up to 1900) and some 2,000 modern maps.

  • Likewise, the collection contains auxiliary material in the areas of ancient cartography, periodicals and advisory books.
     

• Archives

  • Private archives of noted Jewish individuals, institutions and organizations.

  • 250 archives of musical creators.

  • 200 collections – historical documents, posters, pictures, autographs, inscriptions, Books of Esther, book brands (ex libris) and more.
     

• Music Collection

  • Print – books – Yaakov Michael Collection.

  • Print – Notes – Meir Noy Collection – Songs in Hebrew and Yiddish – 10,000 titles.

  • Video and audio recordings (records, disks, tapes and more).

  • Archive Materials (drafts of musical works, research notes, letters, pictures, documents, notices, programs, newspaper clippings, private recordings and more).
    
    

• National Audio Archive

  • Includes 30,000 hours of recordings:

    • Audio material related to Jewish traditions in Jewish and non-Jewish communities in the Land of Israel and in the State of Israel.

    • Archive of radio broadcast recordings.

    • Commercial music.
       

• Edelstein Collection (History of Science)

  • The collection includes the fields of history, philosophy and sociology of science. The collection is housed in the “Edelstein Library” and totals 30,000 books and items, addressing a wide range of scientific fields.
    
    

• Gershom Scholem Collection (Kabbalah and Mysticism)

  • This unique collection includes some 30,000 books, some of which are rare, as well as microfilmed manuscripts used by Scholem for his research.
     

• Deposit Library for International Organizations

  • United Nations and European Union publications.