Please note: The library is currently closed due to construction work in the building. It may be possible to use the holdings of the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst in exceptional cases and by prior arrangement via email to dahlem.bib[at]smb.spk-berlin.de – provided that the construction work allows this.

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.