Gifts Department

Receiving Donations at the Library

The National Library welcomes the donation of books or collections of individual items from donors from Israel and around the world. The Library has accumulated important assets in diverse fields of knowledge, such as Jewish history and culture, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, the humanities, the history of science and more. The Library's collections have been vastly enriched with the help of donors who recognize the cultural, educational, and historical importance of the National Library of Israel, and choose to contribute to its treasures. Many of the donations received by the Gifts Department are accompanied by touching stories about the donors' personal backgrounds, histories, and lives.

What kinds of donations and gifts does the Library accept?

  • Books
  • Magazines
  • Manuscripts
  • Letters
  • Maps
  • Archives
  • Recorded Sound
  • Sheet music
  • CDs
  • Records
Photo: Yosef Cohen
Photo: Yosef Cohen

Our collection policy has been developed in light of our Core Collections

ספרים של פנחס שדה

Israel Collection:

Any publication that has been published in Israel or that has been published abroad and is connected to Israel.
The Federmann Family Israel Collection is made up of several subdivisions: Zionism, the Arab-Israeli conflict, social and historical issues, fiction, children's literature, art, archeology, tourism and travelogues, foreign relations between Israel and other countries, minorities, literature on Israel in foreign languages, Hebrew literary fiction translated into other languages, newspapers and periodicals, and official publications by international bodies like the U.N., NATO, and the European Union regarding Israel.

ספרי יהדות

Judaica Collection:

The Haim and Hanna Solomon Judaica Collection includes items relating to Judaism and Jewish commentary, the People of Israel as well as Jewish literary fiction.

ספרים בערבית

Islam and Middle East collection:

This collection focuses on three geographical areas: the Middle East and North Africa, Central; West and South Asia; Muslim minorities in Western Europe and the United States.

ספרים באנגלית בתצוגה

Humanities Collection:

This collection complements the Judaica, Islam and Middle East, and Israel collections, providing background literature on the surrounding cultures, as well as ancillary research tools. The collection consists primarily of titles in English, German and French, alongside selected works in Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Greek, Russian and other languages.
The collection also serves the general scholarly needs of the public, including in disciplines and fields of knowledge that are not among its specialties, such as literature, art and the social sciences.

Photo: Victor Zislin
Photo: Victor Zislin

What happens after gifts are received?

Upon receiving a gift – if it is decided that the item will indeed be accepted as part of the Library's collections, the item then undergoes the usual absorption process: cataloguing, classification and indexing.

Each donor is given a unique code, and upon request, a tag with the donor's name can be attached to each item.

Needless to say, the National Library cannot accept all of the gifts it receives. Donations and gifts that the Library decides not to keep will be offered to other libraries or sold to buyers interested in such items.

Important gifts that have been received by NLI

The Library's Archives Department houses private collections from the estates of well-known figures such as Gershom Scholem, S.Y. Agnon and Ahad Ha'am. The National Sound Archive includes known composers such as Paul Ben-Haim and Mordecai Setter.

The National Library gladly accepts contributions dealing with unique fields not covered by the Library's collection policy and that would not have been acquired in the framework of the Library's budget.

Photo: Uri Barkat, NLI Digitization Center
Photo: Uri Barkat, NLI Digitization Center

How can I donate?

Prior to contacting the Library about a donation, please take the time to make a list of the items you wish to donate. You can provide a sample list. Please provide as much detail as possible: the language of the books, amount, physical condition, content, format, etc.

For more information, please contact the Legal Deposit and Orders Department at the National Library:
Email: [email protected]

For information about making monetary donations to the National Library of Israel please contact:
Naomi Schacter, Director of Partnerships and International Relations
Tel: +972-74-7336106
[email protected]