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Passage from the reading room to the work area, a woman sits at one of the computers on the tables

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–Fri 12 noon–5 pm
From 2 Jan 2024: Mon–Tue 10 am–5 pm

Closed on public holidays and museum closures.

Map with all buildings that belong to the Jewish Museum Berlin. The W. M. Blumenthal Academy is marked in green

Where

W. M. Blumenthal Academy, Reading Room
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
Postal address: Lindenstraße 9-14, 10969 Berlin

The use of archive and/or library material is possible. Please register via the following web form:

Online Catalogs

To find out which books, magazines, documents and other media you may view in the Reading Room, you can search or browse our Online Library Catalog.

A row of desks, some equipped with desktops, stand in a room flanked by bookshelves. A passageway opens to the library area.

Workstations in the reading room of the archive and library; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Roman März

You can also find some of the holdings of the Leo Baeck Institute (search “Our Catalog” on www.lbi.org) and the Wiener Library (www.wienerlibrary.co.uk/Collections) on our premises. Each item’s entry indicates whether it is also available on microfilm in our Reading Room.

The Public Stacks and Ordering
from the Depot

Our library’s public stacks, with over 20,000 books, are accessible to the public. Holdings whose “Location” in their library catalog entry is listed as Rare Book Library, Rare Book Depot, or Depot must be ordered in advance.

Please register by e-mail and let us know your preferred date and order preferences.

The Archive staff is happy to provide information on the holdings in its collection, which include bequests from nearly 1,700 individuals. Please contact the Archive staff to inquire about orders from the archival holdings. On our website, you will find more information about our Archive and the branches of the Leo Baeck Institute and the Wiener Library located there.

Bookshelves lined up in a row with a large window front in the background.

The public stacks in the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Roman März

Contact

Reading Room
T +49 (0)30 259 93 560
bibliothek@jmberlin.de

Archive
T +49 (0)30 259 93 318
archive@jmberlin.de

Technical Equipment and Databases

The Reading Room has a media station for DVDs and videos, two reader printers for microfilm and microfiche, and a book scanner. At the computer workstations, you can conduct research in digital reference sources, magazines, databases such as the Encyclopedia Judaica.

Both institutions and private individuals can sign up for databases covered by the national license of the German Research Foundation (DFG). This license gives you access in the Reading Room to:

The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion

Access via DFG national license in our reading room

World Biographical Information System Online

(Jewish Biographical Archive) 
Access via DFG national license in our reading room

Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook

(1956–1995) 
Access via DFG national license in our reading room

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.

DigiBaeck

In the online catalogue of the Leo-Baeck-Institute (LBI) New York and Berlin, you can view their extensive collections of digitized documents.
Research in DigiBaeck

Because certain collections are still not available online but can be found on microfilm in our Reading Room, it is worthwhile to search through the LBI’s complete catalogue. (Search under “Our Catalog”).
Research in the LBI complete catalogue

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.

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Can I borrow books from the library?

We do not lend books. Our holdings can only be viewed in the Reading Room.

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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.

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Is there WiFi Internet access at the museum?

In the museum, you can use a hotspot provided by Deutsche Telekom for three hours a day.

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How can I reach the museum by public transportation?

The museum is easy to reach by subway (U1, U3, U6 U-Bahn lines) and by bus (M29, M41, 248).

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Are there places to park near the museum?

There are places to park in the neighborhood of the museum, but we recommend taking public transportation.

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Where are disabled parking spaces located?

If you arrive by car and have a disabled parking permit (“Blue Badges”), you can use one of two parking spaces located close to the museum.

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View into the aisle between two rows of bookshelves in a library

The Library of the Jewish Museum Berlin

Our Library: Books, films, and more about Jewish art, culture, and history
Library Catalog (OPAC)
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

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