Archaeology is often thought about as a 'shovel science' and archaeologists accordingly as individuals who spend much of their time in the field. However, and despite of the meanwhile pervasiveness of electronic means, the key workplace of archaeologists yet remains the traditional library.
All who are interested in Eurasian archaeology, especially guests staying several weeks or months are welcome to use our library which furnishes the prerequisite of any meaningful scholarly work or archaeological classification.
With about 97,000 volumes, of which respectively 12,000 and 1,500 are stored in the libraries of the branch offices of Tehran and Beijing, the Eurasia Department in Europe houses the leading library for Eurasian archaeology. Its subject collection Eurasian archaeology is no doubt unique in its kind. The Eurasia library has subsequently evolved to become the primary place of reference for specialised scholars from the successor states of the Soviet Union, because nowhere else is the access to the subject's published matter as comprehensive as here in Berlin. While there once used to be a regular exchange of publication between the former constituent republics of the Soviet Union, this has now largely faded. Even for colleagues worldwide working on Eurasia Berlin has become the foremost hub for bibliographical research.
The library covers subject areas from Europe's pre-and early history, whilst focussing on its eastern and northern parts. Another of its core subjects is archaeological method and theory.
The library's new acquisitions only to some extent have been regularly ordered from catalogues of specialised book retailers. Many are in fact brought to the library as donations or are exchanged for other publications by the department's guests or its employees returning from their trips to the host countries. Without this personal commitment, our library would by far fall short of achieving its current reading offer.
Crucial for the sustained development of the department's library is the progression of our book exchange network, for which we dispose of our own stock of in-house publications. The Eurasia Department publishes two journals and three monograph series which disseminate the results from our ongoing research as well as from that carried out by our colleagues from the host countries.
This allows us to raise the number of our exchange partners worldwide. In many countries our research has hence become accessible exclusively through this method of exchanging published matter.