JEWISH STUDIES
Clientele: The Jewish Studies Program is an interdisciplinary program with ca. 15 faculty in the departments of Near Eastern Studies, History, German Literature, English and Government. Current faculty research interests include Hebrew Bible, Biblical archaeology, semitic philology, medieval Hebrew literature, early (=pre-medieval) Jewish history, German Jewry and holocaust studies.
Existing collection: ECS 3+ ; LANG: W
The existing collection comprises ca. 75,000 volumes of books and periodicals. About 750 serials and series are being received on subscription, and there are several thousand microform units. For historical reasons, it is strongest in English language secondary literature, both monographs and serials. It has some gaps in Continental imprints, especially from the 19th century and earlier, although most important monographs and serial sets are represented. Very wide gaps in pre-1980 Hebrew language secondary literature, with the rich Hebrew/Yiddish literary output of 19th century Europe particularly underrepresented. Post-1980 coverage of secondary literature in all languages is more systematic. Coverage of primary sources - newspapers, government documents, archival materials, manuscripts - ranges from fair to weak, with the worst lacunae once again in Hebraica. Again for historical reasons, relative to the existing universe of scholarly literature the collection is strongest in Biblical studies, weaker in rabbinics, Jewish history and literature.Current collecting: CCI 4/4- ; LANG: W
Priority is given to maintaining subscriptions to all serials of scholarly value and to acquiring as many as possible current scholarly monographs on a broad subject front. While special attention is paid to current faculty research interests an effort is also made to buy at least some of the current output in every sub-field so as to prevent recurrence of past large lacunae. Hebrew and Yiddish fiction is acquired more selectively, with attention limited to major authors past and present. Lack of funds has precluded any significant retrospective purchases, with the single exception of trying to build up the collection of Holocaust memorial books. Similarly, only very few of the many available large and expensive sets of primary sources (reprints, microforms, CD-ROM's) are being acquired.Subjects covered: LC classes BM, BS 1-1999, DS 100-149, E 184.J5, JQ 1825, PJ 4000-5999.
The collection covers all main sub-areas of the field: Jewish philosophy and religion, Biblical studies (Old Testament only), Holy Land archaeology, Halakhic law, Jewish history, Jewish languages and literatures, other aspects of Jewish culture (book arts, folklore etc.). Also, all social science aspects of the State of Israel, including non Jewish populations under Israeli control. All topics are covered for all relevant historical periods and all geographical areas, reflecting the wide chronological and geographical spread which has been the hallmark of the Jewish people. Languages of current publication, in order of importance, are: English, Hebrew, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Yiddish. Titles in other languages are rarely acquired.
Geographical information: The United States, Israel and Germany are the leading centers of contemporary scholarly activity in Jewish Studies, and consequently also the leading producers of relevant literature. The second tier includes Britain, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Beyond this there is scattered output from various countries in Europe, Latin America and Australasia.
Exclusions:
1. Works by Jewish authors which are not specifically related to Judaism,e.g. fiction by prominent American writers who happen to be Jewish.
2. Contemporary Israeli secular law.
3. The Middle East conflict from non Jewish/Israeli perspectives.
4. Jewish Labor history (collected by ILR Library)
5. Israeli agronomy and other technical aspects of agriculture (collected by Mann Library.)
6. Jewish/Israeli art and architecture (collected by FAL.)
7. Jewish/Israeli music (collected by Music Library.)
