Please note the changed opening hours from 16 April 2024. More

Library of the Ethnologisches Museum

Ethnologisches Museum
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Arnimallee 27
14195 Berlin
Germany

Opening hours

Tuesday to Wednesday: 9 am to 4 pm

Or by appointment. Please contact library staff in advance to organise a visit.

Library information desk

Phone: +49 30 8301280
E-Mail: em.bib[at]smb.spk-berlin.de

Public transport connections

U-Bahn U3 (Dahlem-Dorf)
Bus X11, X83 (Dahlem-Dorf); 101 (Limonenstraße); 110 (Domäne Dahlem)

Scope and holdings

Specialist library for museum-collection areas: Africa, American archaeology and ethnology, the Islamic Orient, East and North-East Asia, South and Southeast Asia, Polynesia, Australia, and ethnomusicology

Collection policy decider: N.N.
Collection areas: literature on ethnology and remote regions
Holdings statistics: 105,000 volumes, 288 currently subscribed periodicals (as of 2011)
Historical book collections: 7,100 volumes. See detailed description in the Handbuch der historischen Buchbestände in Deutschland, Österreich und Europa

Use

Reference library, reading room with 10 desks. Books must be requested in advance. Please reserve the material you would like to access two days before your visit by sending an email to dahlem.bib[at]smb.spk-berlin.de.

To do so, the following information is required:

Short title [Kurztitel] location [Standort] (e.g. HF-…), current location [Derzeitiger Standort] (you can find this under information [Anmerkungen]), along with the call number [Signatur].

Example:

Short title: Masken weltweit
Location: HF-E8
Current location: Ethnologisches Museum
Call number: LC 16000 2016 001.

Generally, your order should not include more than ten items.

For other queries, including questions about titles that do not appear in the database, please contact the library information service.

Before requesting items, please ensure that they are not available in other libraries in Berlin and Brandenburg. To do so, you can use online catalogues such as the KOBV or the Karlsruhe Virtual Catalogue.

We ask that you request the material from these locations where possible.

Technical equipment

Colour copier and book scanner

Catalogues

The OPAC of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin contains the entire holdings of the Ethnologisches Museum’s library

Archive of the Ethnologisches Museum

The archive of the Ethnologisches Museum is closed until further notice.

The Museum für Völkerkunde’s collection of historical files is scheduled to be digitised by 2024, as part of a DFG project. The goal of the DFG project Digitization of the historical archive of the Ethnologisches Museum (1830-1947) is to permanently secure the documents and to publish the digital versions via the Internet. A microfilm copy of the collection can be found in the Zentralarchiv of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and can be consulted there by appointment.

Contact the Zentralarchiv: za[at]smb.museum
Contact for substantive research inquiries: h.ortlieb[at]smb.spk-berlin.de