Greek Studies Library
The library of the Department of Modern Greek Studies (Patio, 43-13) currently holds almost 6,600 volumes, most of which are books, mainly in Greek, but also in English and in French, scientific journals, dictionaries and encyclopedias. Modern Greece is of course well represented. They are divided as follows: literature - linguistics - civilisation, including history, sociology, art, etc. The volumes dedicated to Cyprus are kept separately.
To the library's 6,600 volumes must be added the 2,900 volumes of the Constantin Th. Dimaras collection, following the donation of his Parisian library to the Modern Greek Studies Department.
Since September 2023, the Greek collections have been part of the Oriental, Slavic and Modern Greek Languages Library, located on the 6th floor of the Portique.
Since 2015, the Library Service, the Faculty of Languages and the Oriental, Slavonic and Modern Greek Studies Group have been working towards integrating these collections into a unified library, which will be more widely open to students and all members of the public interested in these languages from elsewhere (and here). The aim is not only to create a specialised reference library that is unique in eastern France, but also to enhance and enrich these rare and hitherto largely dormant collections, even though they have been recognised as a Collection of Excellence (COLLEX) at national level. The Library of Oriental, Slavonic and Modern Greek Langues, managed by the University of Strasbourg Library Service, opened its doors on 11 September 2023.
For more than a century, the collections of works in their original language, literary translations, journals and specialist scientific studies, held by the various departments associated with GÉO - UR 1340, have been enriched by acquisitions and numerous donations. In total, this rich documentary heritage now represents almost 82,000 books (around 2,250 linear metres) and several thousand periodicals (385 linear metres) spread across 8 separate libraries, partially catalogued and with limited accessibility, in almost twenty languages (Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Modern Greek, Biblical Hebrew and Modern Hebrew, Caucasian languages, Persian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Czech, Turkish and Ukrainian).
The work carried out since 2015 has been divided into several stages:
- identifying, measuring, sorting and weeding the institutes' collections (completed),
- Identifying and securing reading rooms and storage areas (completed),
- setting up a quotation system (completed),
- signposting and cataloguing of collections (in progress),
- a permanent team responsible for the conservation and development of the BIBLIOS collections in the future (completed).
To date, the collections in the Arabic, Greek, Japanese, Persian and Turkish areas have largely been identified and catalogued with the support of the University of Strasbourg (IDEX-Initiatives of Excellence envelopes) and ABES. However, it has not yet been possible to process the Chinese and Slavonic studies collections satisfactorily, and both human and financial resources have yet to be found.
The cataloguing work undertaken in recent years has revealed a valuable heritage and the presence of rare works: almost 80 Arabic, Turkish and Persian manuscripts; rare works from the 18th and 19th centuries (works in Russian, including a book printed in 1725 in Russia using ecclesiastical Demotic, Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Japanese characters); Chinese local monographs from the imperial period and imperial collections in old editions; Russian-language works published abroad by publishing houses of Russian migration in the 1920s; research libraries belonging to leading researchers bequeathed to the University of Strasbourg: Constantin Th Dimaras collection (Modern Greek studies, 2000 works); Henri Massé collection (Persian, Turkish and Arabic studies, 1500 works) and Charles-Henri de Fouchécour collection (Persian studies, 3500 works).
The new library, which will have its own space and significant capacity for welcoming the public, will provide a forum for exchanging and sharing these languages and cultures in tune with the world, with the organisation of lecture series, public readings, exhibitions and workshops, in which GÉO - UR 1340 will be particularly involved. A policy of enriching common collections could be envisaged, following the GÉO's scientific guidelines, with a focus on interdisciplinary dialogue in the GÉO's languages of study (SHS 'from here and elsewhere'), and on building up a reference library of 'classics from elsewhere' in the various languages concerned.