Library Quick Links
Online Databases
Collection and Catalog Listings
- Video on DVD
- Video on VHS
- Audiobooks
- Music Cds
- Periodicals
- Rare Books
- Chicago Jewish Archives
- Yemenite Manuscripts
Contact
Asher Library
Sunday10 am - 4 pm
Monday-Thursday
10 am - 6 pm
Friday
10 am - 3 pm
(Closed 2:15 pm Fridays during winter)
asherlib@spertus.edu
312.322.1749
Chicago Jewish Archives
open by appointment only
archives@spertus.edu
312.322.1741
Asher Library
The Asher Library, established in the mid-1930s (and renamed the Norman and Helen Asher Library in 1974), is one of North America's largest Jewish libraries.
Now open in the brand-new Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies facility at 610 South Michigan, the redesigned library features:
- Expanded, spacious reading room with glorious views of Grant Park and Lake Michigan
- Free wireless internet access throughout the library
- Plentiful computers for public use
- Electric high-density mobile shelving system for improved access to collections
- Custom audio/visual carrels for viewing videos and listening to musical recordings
- Special collections reading room for viewing material from the Archives, rare book and map collections
- Special collections workroom for processing archival material
- Expanded conservation lab with room to accommodate visiting conservators
The Asher Library is open to all, Jews and non-Jews, students and scholars, local Chicagoans and out-of-town guests, and offers everyone the opportunity to experience the range and richness of Jewish religion and culture. Borrowing privileges and online access are available to Spertus College students and Spertus members.
The circulating collection contains over 110,000 Jewish-interest fiction and non-fiction books, plus Jewish periodicals, films, and music from all over the world.
The Asher Library's on-line collection of resources includes the Feinberg E-Collection, a unique resource comprising the full-text of over 800 reference books and 25,000 articles in the area of Jewish Studies, accessible from any computer 24/7. (Access is a benefit of Spertus membership, and can be made available within 24 hours from the time of weekday sign up.)
Special collections include more than 1,500 rare books dating from the late-15th to the 20th century, as well as the Muriel Yale Collection of Rare & Antique Maps of the Holy Land and Ottoman Empire, one of the worlds largest collections of maps of that region.