Ancient Near East Library

Since January¹ , 2020, the Assyriology and West Semitic holdings have been grouped together in a single library, the Ancient Near East Library, which offers 37,000 printed works, 411 journal titles, complemented by online ebooks and databases, all conducive to research on the Ancient Near East in the broadest sense.

Assyriology collection

The Assyriology Library was founded in 1936 by Charles Fossey, and brings together a collection specializing in the history of the Ancient Near East, in particular cuneiform, Sumerian and Assyro-Babylonian documentation. An important part also concerns Anatolia and Hittite, Hourrite and Elamite studies. Near Eastern archaeology is less comprehensively represented. The collections also include various research fonds, including that of François Thureau-Dangin.

West Semitic Studies Collection

The West Semitic Studies Library is the result of the holdings of the Institut d'études sémitiques, founded in 1930 and attached to the Collège de France in 1973. The collection specializes in Chamito-Semitic linguistics, West and South Semitic epigraphy, and the history and archaeology of the Near East, North Africa and Ethiopia. An important part of the documentation concerns the study of the Hebrew Bible and the Qumran manuscripts. Its collections include the André Dupont-Sommer, Jean Starcky, Marcel Cohen, Maxime Rodinson and André Caquot bequests.

The library offers 65 WIFI-equipped workstations, including two carrels and a group-work room accessible by prior reservation.

In May 2021, the library was awarded the "CollEx- collections d'excellence" label by the Collex-Persée scientific interest group. This label identifies research-level holdings that are remarkable for their scope and originality, and enables the labeled library to participate in calls for projects involving researchers.

Access reserved for teachers, researchers and students at Masters level and above, on the recommendation of their research supervisor. Undergraduate students may be admitted on a temporary basis, at the request of their professor.

The reader's card is issued on justification of research, and is valid for one year.

Access to collections :

All collections are freely available in the reading room.

Documents may not be loaned.

Interlibrary loan (ILL):

This service enables registered readers to borrow documents not held at the Collège de France from external libraries. Requests are centralized by Collège de France's Department of Libraries, Archives and Collections (DBAC), and any reader wishing to obtain a document is invited to write to the following address:

Additional services:

• Photocopier-scanner (photocopying is subject to copyright and the state of conservation of the document), wifi internet access, computer workstations for consulting catalogs and electronic resources.
• Information by post, e-mail or telephone.

Books are listed in the Omniacatalog and, since 2010, in the Sudoc.

Previous acquisition lists are available on request from the following address:

• Ancient Near East Library

List of works permanently purchased by the Collège de France Foundation for the IPOA libraries from the publisher Walter De Gruyter following a call for projects:

• List of electronic resource acquisitions

The library is open Monday to Friday from 9  hto 19  h.