Israel Collection
מתוך אלבום לתצלומי ארץ ישראל, 1938, מתוך ארכיון יעקב ורמן

Israel Collection

​​The National Library functions as the "national memory" of the State of Israel and the Land of Israel. The Israel Collection is based on the Books Law – Legal Deposit (2000), which requires that two copies of any item printed and published in Israel (50 copies and above) be submitted to the National Library. The materials of the Israel Collection relate to the languages, culture, and homeland of the Jewish people, in Hebrew and in other languages. The aspiration of this top priority collection is to achieve comprehensive coverage of all relevant works, in all languages.

Central Themes in the Israel Collection

The Israel Collection covers several subject areas:  Zionism; the Arab-Israeli conflict; social and historical issues; Israel in international relations; tourism; the arts; minority groups; archeology; literature about Israel in languages other than Hebrew;​ Hebrew literature translated into other languages; journalism; Israel-related official ​publications issued by international organizations such as NATO and the United Nations.

The Importance & Meaning of the Israel Collection

As the Israel Collection is a collection of every book and journal published in Israel in over 50 copies, it includes a variety of topics – novels, children's books, research papers – in many languages, including Hebrew, Russian, and Arabic. As such, the collection is a documentation of the culture and atmosphere of Israeli society. Alongside the collection and preservation of the materials, the National Library enables access to these materials, even after their publication. As a result, and in keeping with the equal access to information principle in the State of Israel, all readers are permitted to read and browse the materials published in Israel. Parts of the collection can be found on open shelves in the various reading rooms, while other parts can be ordered to the main reading rooms using the online ordering service.

The Israel Collection includes newspapers, periodicals, maps, audio-visual material, posters, films, DVDs, ephemera, photographs, and the personal archives of prominent individuals in the fields of culture, philosophy and art.