Library

Library of the Center for Judaic Studies was founded on many donations and acquisitions of volumes from other Jewish Studies centers. The majority of these donations were from chief Rabbi of Riga and Latvia Nathan Barkan (1923–2003), as well as from the Embassy of Israel in Riga, Latvia. A financial support was provided by the Soros Foundation – Latvia and the Dutch Jewish Humanitarian Fund.

Library collection includes books, journals and other materials in various areas of Judaic Studies: Israel Studies, Judaism, Literature, Culture and the Arts, Modern Jewish History, Hebrew language, Jews in Antiquity etc. The priority is to accumulate collections on history of Latvia’s Jews and Jews in Eastern Europe, especially on Holocaust (survivors’ testimonies, essays etc.) and anti-Semitism. Library's collections are in Latvian, Russian, English, German and French. The library's holdings are regularly updated with new books, journals and printed materials. In cooperation with the Jewish Community Center of St. Petersburg, we are receiving bimonthly publication "The People of the Book in the World of Books".

In 2017, most of the Center’s collection was catalogued and is now available at the Central Library of the University of Latvia (Raiņa bulvāris 19). It is open to the public and access to it is free.