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Library

Opening Times: Reading and Research Room Tuesday 9am - 6pm Wednesday 1pm - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Except state and Jewish holidays Library is specialized in: Hebrew studies Jewish studies History History of art Museology Antisemitism Nacism Holocaust   Information:  libraryjewishmuseum.cz phone: +420- 221 711 511

On-line Catalogue

Thematicaly relevant databases accessible in the library reading room and in the reference centre

The basis of the present Jewish Museum in Prague (JMP) Library is the collection of the former library of the Jewish Community of Prague (JCP), which dates back to 1857. The library maintained the tradition of the city of Prague as an important centre of Jewish culture, scholarship and education. Its core collection consisted of gifts and bequests of prominent Jewish personalities, such as the Chief Rabbi of Prague Salomon Judah Rapoport, the Prague printer and publisher Moses Israel Landau and the Secretary of the Prague Burial Society Koppelmann Lieben. The library of the JCP was run by professionals, such as the first librarian Dr. Nathan Grün, Dr. Isidor Pollak and the last librarian Dr. Tobias Jakobovits. It was Dr. Jakobovits who in 1938 compiled the catalogue of the collection, amounting to 15,000 volumes, including 4 incunabulae, old and rare printed books and manuscripts. This catalogue, which is divided into two parts - Hebraica and Judaica- has remained a very useful bibliographical tool for orientation in this historical collection to the present day.

During World War II the library shared a similar fate to that of the majority of Jewish sites in Bohemia and Moravia: it came under the administration of the Central Jewish Museum.

After World War II, in 1945, the former JCP library was transferred to the renewed Jewish Museum, which in 1950 became the State Jewish Museum. During the 1970s and 1980s library staff focused on a description of the collection of manuscripts and the collection of old Prague printed books. The results of this research were published in the journal Judaica Bohemiae.

The current JMP library contains as many as 100,000 volumes, including Hebrew books stemming mainly from the territory of Bohemia and Moravia, as well as other areas of Europe. The library contains literature dealing with Jewish history in Bohemia and Moravia and, last but not least, a large collection of Judaica on various topics (history, history of art, philosophy, bibliography, linguistics, fiction). The JMP library also has a large and valuable collection of periodicals comprising historical items (newspapers, revues and year-books from the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries) as well as recent and contemporary titles which the library purchases or exchanges with other Czech and foreign institutions. The library has begun to use the ALEPH library system for cataloguing, which, we hope will streamline operations, make the library accessible to a greater number of researchers and improve communication between the library and its users

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Depositories of the Museum Library, Reading Room and Research Room

The Museum library is housed in the Museum headquarters in U Staré školy street and has two depositories (1.740 sq. m.) containing approximately 75,000 volumes. The books are stored in specially designed compact shelves which allow for sufficient air circulation. The library depositories have been designed to create an optimum clime-controlled environment; this has been achieved by installing special units in the wall cavities which cool or heat the space as required. In conjunction with the building’s energy accumulation, this helps maintain a stable environment with regards temperature and humidity.

Solid ‘sandwich’ panels have been installed in window openings to reinforce heat resistance and eliminate daylight and UV rays. The library features safety doors, a central electronic security system, anti-fire facilities and special channels with outer wall flood sensors which, in the event of a flood or excessive water heating/cooling, will direct the water out and simultaneously sound the alarm. Unlike the Reference Centre, the library is divided into two sections, a reading room and a specially air-conditioned research room. The temperature and humidity of the research room is strictly controlled to provide ideal conditions for the protection of old and rare printed books and archive materials. Most of the library’s publications are available for reference in the reading room.