History and Statistics

Established in 1982, the first collection of Library and Documentation Center (LDC) of The Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia (CGIE) expanded through dedicated resources from several scientific institutes and individuals involved in cultural activities. A collection based on information needs of researchers rapidly developed. After 17 years, it has currently a central library and 32 special libraries serving scientific sections and technical managements. The Library of Congress classification is used in the library. It contains old books (incunabula), rare books, and main references about culture and civilization of Islamic nations. By 1999, the library included 362575 volumes of books and printed and manuscript journals and magazines (352456 in print; 8462 pictures; 1757 manuscripts) as well as 1965 titles periodicals (1163 in Persian; 477 in European languages; 384 in Arabic). It also houses 1133 microfilms, 3894 slides, pictures and 10,000 historical documents, errands and letters.

Library Building

With resistance up to 8 Richter scale, the central library building designed in two floors in nearly 12000 square meters of space. It has 51 stocks (32 stocks for recent publishing books and scientific files of entries; eight stocks for newspapers and periodicals;4 stocks for artistic books, Conga?? collection, lithography and letter printing books, bibliographies; 3 special stocks for manuscripts, documents and errands, photos microfilms, and rare, old and precious books. In the whole building, one appropriate reading room is designed for each of 3 stocks. The 51 stocks house nearly 1,500,000 volumes of books. Moreover, the library is connected to computerized networks.

Organization Formation

37 librarians and staff work in 12 separate departments and technical and administrative divisions in the library. These departments and divisions are: 1. Library manager 2. The council 3. Deputy 4. Public and clerical services 5. Cataloging of eastern works 6. Cataloging of Latin works 7. Cataloging of manuscripts, errands and illustrated books …(the project of union catalog of Persian books by Ahmad Mozavi is one of the main duties of this department. Out of 15 volumes, 5 volumes have been published and 8 volumes is ready to publish). 8.Document delivery services 9. Periodicals 10. Films and photos 11. Binding 12. Photocopy.
It worth saying that the library of The Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia is one of the most prominent and richest libraries in Iran.