Reading Room
Opening Hours, Equipment, and Other Information
The Reading Room for our Library and our Archive is located in the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin, opposite the museum.
Opening Hours
|
Mon & Tue |
10 am–5 pm |
|
Wed–Fri |
12 noon–5 pm |
Closing Days
The reading room is closed on the following days:
Where
W. M. Blumenthal Academy, Reading Room
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
Postal address: Lindenstraße 9-14, 10969 Berlin
Holdings and Online Catalogs
All of our library's holdings can be found in our Online Library Catalog. Approximately 30,000 books are accessible in the open-access area without registration. Another 40,000 volumes, which are marked in the library catalog with the location Rara Library, Rara Depot, or Depot, must be ordered in advance.
The archive holds around 1,800 bequests and family collections. A small portion of these has already been digitized and can be searched online in our collection (in German).
On our website, you will find further information on the branches and holdings of the Leo Baeck Institute and the Wiener Library at the Jewish Museum Berlin.
The Open Access Holdings and Ordering from the Depot
Our library's open access holdings are available to the public. You can search the entire database in the reading room. Items marked in the library catalog with the location Rara Library, Rara Depot, or Depot must be ordered in advance. Finding aids are also available for a large part of the collection. Please register for the reading room by email and let us know your preferred date and order requests.
The staff of our archive will be happy to provide information about the approximately 1,700 estates in their collection. For information about the archive holdings and the provision of documents, please contact the archive in advance.
Original photos are not available in the reading room. For this, please contact the photo documentation department.
The public stacks in the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Roman März
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Contact
Reading Room
T +49 (0)30 259 93 560
bibliothek@jmberlin.de
Archive
T +49 (0)30 259 93 332
archive@jmberlin.de
The use of archive and/or library material is possible. Please get in touch via the following web form:
Technical Equipment and Databases
Our reading room offers computer workstations, a free book scanner, and public Wi-Fi access. You can make working scans of archival materials yourself after consulting with us. Here you have access to the digital reference works, journals, and databases licensed by us:
Additional full-text databases have open online access. We have compiled various recommended links for you on our website, including lists of digitized magazines and other online resources for researching Jewish topics.
Workstations in the reading room of the archive and library; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Roman März
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Workstations in the reading room of the archive and library; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Roman März
How can I conduct research using the museum’s archive, collections, and library?
Our Reading Room is open to the public. You can also research using our library’s holdings and some of our collection’s holdings online. To view additional holdings, please contact the responsible curators.
Can I borrow books from the library?
We do not lend books. Our holdings can only be viewed in the Reading Room.
Can the museum help me research my family history?
You may use our in-house holdings for research purposes. We have also compiled a directory of links to research opportunities for personal and family research and genealogy.
Is there WiFi Internet access at the museum?
In the museum, you can use a hotspot provided by Deutsche Telekom.
I would like to depict or borrow an object from your collections. Who should I contact?
Your contacts for photo permissions are Valeska Wolfgram and Birgit Maurer-Porat (T +49 (0)30 259 93 433, email: fotodoku@jmberlin.de). Please consider that it may take between four to six weeks Please note that the processing time for requests can take between 4 and 6 weeks. We will be happy to provide you with further information on fees and reproduction conditions on request.
The Library of the Jewish Museum Berlin
- Landing Page
- Our Library: Books, films, and more about Jewish art, culture, and history
- Library Catalog (OPAC)
- Our Collections: collection fields at a glance
- Information for Visitors
- Current page: Reading Room: Opening hours, catalogs, databases, requesting archive material
- Registration Form: Register to view rare holdings from our library and documents from our archive
- Terms of Use: Requirements for visitors to the archive and library of the Jewish Museum Berlin
- Our Library’s Classification Scheme: The focuses and thematic areas according to which our collection is organized and grouped
- List of Fees: Prices and rates for services at the reading room of our library and archive
- Collections and Projects
- Collections on Jewish Art and Culture: Volumes printed by the Soncino Society, the publications of the Centralverein, Hebrew Printing, and special collections on Jewish art and visual culture
- The Artur Brauner Collection: Twenty-one films by the successful film producer
- Digitizing Book Holdings: Publications of the Soncino Society of Friends of the Jewish Book, 2016
- Enlarging and Indexing Our Holdings in Jewish Art: DFG Project on visual and material culture of Judaism, 2013–2018
- Digital Content
- Highlights from the Library Collection: A medieval manuscript, a cookbook from 1900, an elaborate Hebrew children’s book and other treasures
- Digital Books: A complete list of our digitized books, in German
- Rare Digital Books: Curated selection of valuable digitized material from our holdings
- Story Time in Our Library: Why Noah Chose the Dove by Isaac Bashevis Singer, 2023
- “Hörmahl:” A Feast for the Ears: Podcast series about Rahel Varnhagen, Lina Morgenstern and other women writers, 2021–2022, in German
- See also
- Judaica Portal: Online database of Judaica holdings at various institutions, including our library’s holdings
- Periodicals in the ZDB: Research tool for magazines, newspapers, and databases in German and Austrian libraries
- Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (DDB): Our digitized publications accessible via the DDB
- AG Jüdische Sammlungen: Website of the Jewish Collections working group, in German
- Library Holdings: Search engine for our online collections, in German
- Literature
- Literature for Children and Young Adults
- Digital Archive of Jewish Authors in Berlin 1933–1945: cooperation (in German)
