Scope of the Collections
The National Library of Israel houses over five million books and periodicals, as well as thousands of items in special collections, among them manuscripts, archives, maps, musical recordings and digital collections.
In accordance with the Books Law (Legal Deposit), the library collects, preserves and allows free access to every publication published in Israel.
250,000 books on open shelves can be accessed in eight reading rooms: Judaism, Islam and the Middle East, Humanities, Hebrew manuscripts, Archives, Eran Laor Cartographic Collection, Edelstein Collection, Gershom Scholem Collection. Storage rooms inside and outside the library premises hold the remainder of the books.
The digital collection contains thousands of scanned books, manuscripts, newspapers, pages of Talmud, maps, and the Sound Archives.