Beit Ariela Shaar Zion Library is the central public library in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

History

Pre-State

The library was founded in 1886 in Jaffa at the initiative of the " Ezrat Israel" society ("Assistance to Israel") – the organization that helped to establish the first Jewish hospital in Jaffa and also initiated the construction of

Neve Tzedek Neve Tzedek ( he, נְוֵה צֶדֶק, נווה צדק, ''lit.'' Abode of Justice) is a neighborhood located in southwestern Tel Aviv, Israel. It was the first Jewish neighborhood to be built outside the old city of the ancient port of Jaffa. O ...

neighborhood. The library was named then "A book collection". In 1891 some other communities, such as "

Hovevei Zion Hovevei Zion ( he, חובבי ציון, lit. '' hose who areLovers of Zion''), also known as Hibbat Zion ( he, חיבת ציון), refers to a variety of organizations which were founded in 1881 in response to the Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russ ...

" ("Lovers of Zion"), "

B'nai B'rith B'nai B'rith International (, from he, בְּנֵי בְּרִית, translit=b'né brit, lit=Children of the Covenant) is a Jewish service organization. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish peo ...

" ("Sons of the Covenant") and " B'nei Moshe" ("Sons of Moses") associated in their support for the library, and since then the library changed its name to "Shaar Zion" ("The Gate of Zion"). In 1922 the library gained the status of Municipal Library. In the period from 1921 to 1936, it occupied the Polac building at the intersection of Herzl and Ahad Ha'am streets.

Since Israel's independence

The library later moved to Ze'ev Gloskin building on

Montefiore Montefiore, Montifiore, and Montefiori is a surname associated with the Montefiore family, Sephardi Jews who were diplomats and bankers all over Europe and who originated from the Iberian Peninsula, namely Spain and Portugal, and also France, Morocc ...

Street. In the early 60s when the

Herzliya Gymnasium The Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium ( he, הַגִּימְנַסְיָה הָעִבְרִית הֶרְצְלִיָּה, ''HaGymnasia HaIvrit Herzliya'', Also known as ''Gymnasia Herzliya''), originally known as HaGymnasia HaIvrit (lit. Hebrew High Scho ...

building was torn down for the construction of the

Shalom Meir Tower Shalom Meir Tower ( he, מגדל שלום מאיר, ''Migdal Shalom Meir''; commonly known as Migdal Shalom, he, מגדל שלום) is an office tower in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was Israel's first skyscraper. Overview Shalom Meir Tower was designe ...

, the library building was also demolished and the library was temporarily moved to premises on Shaul HaMelech (

King Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tri ...

) Boulevard, not far from the place dedicated for the construction of a new library building. In 1977 the library was finally housed in its new building on Shaul HaMelech Boulevard. This new building was named Beit Ariela (Ariela's House) in honor of Ariela Gitter, daughter of Bernhard Benno Gitter (1919-2004), a businessman, who donated a large sum of money for its construction.

Facilities and services

The Beit Ariela Library includes a reading hall, a lending department, and several special libraries. The Library includes more than half a million books in different languages (Hebrew, English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, and Yiddish). The Library provides its visitors access to databases in various fields of knowledge (in Hebrew and in English); registered borrowers may use this service from their homes. Besides the collections of books the Library possesses journals, newspapers, video recordings, photographs; the collection of musical CDs accounts about 8000. The Library subscribes to 180 different periodicals; there are about 9 thousand registered borrowers. The Library network throughout the City contains more than 21 branches and has around 37,201 (2018) active members.

Special departments

* Periodicals Library – a collection of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

press from the end of the 19th century and up to the present day. Most periodicals are also available on

microfilm Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either photographic film, films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the origin ...

. * Ahad Ha'am Library – holds rare and unique publications on education, the history of Israel, Diaspora communities, as well as Hebrew literature, books on arts, Passover Hagadas and a collection of publications with dedications. * Rambam (

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Tora ...

) Library – religious scientific library that provides about 100 thousand books and different computer databases. * Design and Visual Information Library – collection of visual information on different subjects. The Collection contains more than half a million photos, pictures, postcards, reproductions, caricatures, leaflets, brochures, catalogs – which are subdivided into three categories: Personalities, Countries, and Themes. * Israel Dance Archive and Library – the central library in Israel for storage of information on dance history. More than 2000 folders with archive documents, over 8000 books, as well as journals, video recordings and other media on the subject: "The history of Israeli and Foreign Dance" - from the beginning of the 20th century and up to today. * Theatre Library – alongside a large number of plays, the Library contains the Theatre Archive, named after Yehuda Gabai. The archive is a large collection of documentary materials on the history of Israeli and Hebrew theatre. The archive comprises posters, programmes from performances, mock-ups of scenery, and personal archives of outstanding theatre figures.

External links

Official site of the libraryLibrary' BrochureOpen Access Public CatalogLibrary in Facebook
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Tel Aviv Libraries established in 1886 Libraries in Israel Library buildings completed in 1978 Public libraries