DEPARTMENTS & COLLECTIONS

BOSNIKA (BOSNIAK DEPARTMENT)

The most significant part of the library is the Bosnika section, which collects and processes materials related to Bosnia and Herzegovina. It contains publications on the history and cultural history of the Bosniaks and other peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The collection includes carefully gathered materials from the earliest Bosnian-Herzegovinian printed books, newspapers, and magazines, from Ljubušak and Bašagić to today's contemporary publications.

This department also holds a rich collection of travelogues about Bosnia and Herzegovina in various languages, offering an important historiographical and ethnographic representation of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the 17th century to the present.

Within Bosnika, there is also a Collection of Old and Rare Books, which includes more than 4,000 bibliographic units from the 14th to the 19th centuries. Some examples include Epitome vetustatum Bosnensis provinciae by the Franciscan Filip Lastrić, published in Ancona in 1776, book about bosnian history De regno Bosniae ejusque interitu narratio historica from 1781 by Pruentius Narentin (Luka Vladimirović), published in Venice, and Origine della provincia Bosna-Croatia from 1648 by the Franciscan Franjo Galvinić, which discusses the history of Bosnia and its rulers.

The value and rarity of Bosnika have been recognized by numerous researchers from both Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad, who primarily rely on the collections in this department for their research.

In addition to its primary thematic divisions, Bosnika includes several special collections:

The Bogumili Collection (Bogomil) brings together sources dealing with the historical issues of medieval Bosnian heritage. It represents one of the most attractive areas for historical research, including the art of the period expressed through the iconography of stećci (medieval tombstones), religious teachings, and special customs. The collection contains polemical and critical literature on the Bogomil issue, as well as on the Cathars, Albigensians, Patarenes, the Crusades, and the Inquisition, posing a significant challenge for many researchers.

One of the important events in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the agrarian issue. With the desire to study this historical event, the Agrarian Reform Collection was formed, which contains publications related to the agrarian reform in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the SFRJ, with a special focus on BiH and Bosniaks.

Due to their great importance, the material on the war events and the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina has been collected in a separate Collection War 1991-1995. This collection consists of various types of publications, most of which relate to the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina. This collection also includes a collection of monographs and periodicals, published in Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad in the period from 1992 to 1995. However, there are also publications that relate to political events and the war in Slovenia, Croatia, Kosovo and generally in the former Yugoslavia in the period from 1990 to 1999.

One of the collections that has been assembled with the aim of encouraging the study of social, political, interethnic relations and connections of BiH with other countries in the Balkans is the Balkan Collection. It consists of publications that relate to the geographical area of ​​the Balkans throughout history in various Slavic and other foreign languages.

Emigrantika (The Emigrants' Collection) represents a unique collection of publications on emigration from the earliest times of the formation of organized emigration of South Slavic peoples to the present day. This rare collection contains most of what Croatian, Serbian and Bosniak emigration published around the world during the forty-five years of communist rule in Yugoslavia, as well as publications of emigration from earlier periods. It is divided into Croatian, Serbian, Bosniak, Slovenian, Macedonian and Yugoslav emigrants' publications. Examples include: the Bosniak emigrant magazine Bosanski pogledi, edited by Adil Zulfikarpašić with Smail Balić, PhD in the 1950s and 1960s; then the magazines of Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian and Yugoslav emigration Hrvatska revija, Danica, Naša reč, The South Slav Journal, Svobodna Slovenija, etc. The collection continues to be supplemented with those publications that the library does not own and with publications of today's Bosnian and Herzegovinian diaspora. Thanks to successful cooperation with the Bosniak National Community and the Cultural Society of Bosniaks of Croatia Preporod in Zagreb, and the Bosniak Cultural Association of Slovenia, the library regularly replenishes its emigrant collection with publications by Bosniaks from Croatia and Slovenia and the magazines Behar, Preporodov Journal and Bošnjak.

Within Bosnika, the Judaica Collection and the Sandžak Collection have also been formed. Judaica is a collection of publications on the history, cultural history, civilization, religion and identity of Jews in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the world. The Sandžak Collection consists of various works about Sandžak, as well as works by authors from Sandžak.

Periodicals (magazines, newspapers, calendars, yearbooks) are combined into a special Bosnian Periodicals Collection. This collection includes periodicals from 1850 to the present day, and many titles of the Bosnian and Herzegovinian press can be found there, such as Bosanski prijatelj, Bosanski vjestnik, Salmame-i Vilayet-i Bosna, Bošnjak, Bosnischer Bote, Behar, Bosanska Vila, Gajret, Nada, Literarna štampa, Izraz, Historijska traganja, Znakovi vremena, etc.

KROATIKA AND SERBIKA (CROATIAN AND SERBIAN DEPARTMENT)

The Kroatika and Serbika sections contain publications about the history, traditions, language, culture, and art of Croatia and Serbia. Among the numerous titles, both fiction and scholarly literature and periodicals, you can find documents such as Slavorum Merdionalium from the early 19th century, magazines like Vijenac, Hrvatsko kolo, Croatia Sacra, and publications from the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Serbian Learned Society, and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and few special collections like: The Miroslav Krleža Collection, The Bleiburg Collection, The Ante Starčević Collection, The Vuk Stefanović Karadžić Collection and others. An important part of the Kroatika section is the Nakladni zavod Globus Collection, consisting of 300 bibliographic units, a donation from the Nakladni Zavod Globus to the Bošnjački Institut in 2007.

JUGOSLAVIKA (YUGOSLAVIAN COLLECTION)

The Department of Yugoslavika collects materials on the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the People's Republic of Yugoslavia, and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, covering the period from 1918 to 1992. Several collections have been formed within the department, such as: socialism, Marxism, communism, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, the Josip Broz Tito Collection, Edvard Kardelj, Vladimir Dedijer, Lenin, Stalin, and others.

ISLAMIKA (ISLAMIC COLLECTION)

The Islamika Department consists of numerous works on the history, civilization, art, religion, law, literature and politics of the Islamic world written in English, French, German, Arabic, Turkish, Persian and other languages.

It contains multi-volume collections of the Quran and tafsir, hadith, history of Islam, Islamic culture, Islamic legislation and other Islamic disciplines, by authors such as Tabari, Ibn Sina, Razi, Ghazali, Ibn Rushd, Biruni, Mawardi, etc.

Publications of the Institute for the History of Arab-Islamic Sciences at the Johann W. Goethe University in Frankfurt.

A special place in the Islamika is occupied by a rich collection of facsimile manuscripts, unique items and rarities of classical oriental works from Baghdad, Morocco, Egypt and other centers of the Islamic world of the Middle Ages, from the fields of social and natural sciences, published by the Institute for the History of Arab-Islamic Sciences at the Johann W. Goethe University in Frankfurt, edited by Fuat Sezgin, PhD, founder and director of the institute and famous German oriental philologist.

TURKIKA (TURKISH COLLECTION)

The Turkika section contains numerous works and publications on Turkish history, politics, law, literature, culture, and art. The materials cover the historical period from the founding of the Ottoman Empire to the modern history of the Republic of Turkey. The works include those by authors such as Halil Inalcik, Joseph von Hammer, Bernard Lewis, Nurhan Atasoy, and others. Special attention is given to materials related to the Ottoman rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Balkans, both by domestic and foreign authors.

ENCYCLOPEDIAS, LEXICONS, AND DICTIONARIES

The Encyclopedias, Lexicons, and Dictionaries section contains 2,000 bibliographic units in various languages. The section also holds a rich collection of geographical and historical atlases and regional monographs from around the world. Some of the general and specialized encyclopedias and lexicons in the collection include: Bertelsmann Lexikon, Der Grosse Herder, Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Americana, Der Grosse Brockhaus, Mayer's Enzyklopädisches Lexikon, Collier's Encyclopedia, Das Neue Duden Lexikon, and others.