OPENING TIMES
Public opening times of the Azkue Library and Archive:
9:00 - 14:00
The Azkue Library and Archive are available to Euskaltzaindia. They are also open to all researchers and they endeavour to promote and support research and dissemination of Basque culture.
The catalogues contains
The Azkue Library catalogue contains five sub-catalogues:
- Monographs (books and similar)
- Regular publications
- Euskaltzaindia publications (includes the publication titled Euskera)
- Euzko Gogoa magazine
- Lacombe Library
For the publication titled Euskera, the catalogue entry includes a link to a PDF of the corresponding text. A specific search interface has also been available in the Linguistic Resources section since 2007.
The Archive Catalogue contains various collections:
- The institution's administrative archive (1919-1970).
- The private collections of fourteen academics or Bascologists: S. Altube, O. Apraiz, R.M. Azkue, P. Broussain, Y. Etxaide, J.C. Guerra, A. Ibinagabeitia, J.M. Jimeno Jurio, G. Lacombe, P. Lafitte, J.M. Satrustegi, N. Tauer, A. Tovar and J. Zaitegi.
- Two unique collections: one pertaining to the institution (ABC) and the other pertaining to the University of the Basque Country (UPV).
- Audiovisual archive comprising five collections: three general, specifically photographs (ABI), audio documentation (SOI) and videos (BID); and two special, specifically the Irale audio collections (ITA) and the collection of X. Arbelbide (XAR).
Language
The Azkue Library Catalogue (ABK) contains the books and magazines of the Euskaltzaindia library. At present, it is entirely in Basque. Euskaltzaindia wants to create a multilingual catalogue and is currently working to achieve this goal. However, the wish was to first create it in Basque. The Azkue Library Cataloguing Rules reflect this (PDF).
The fact that this is the first catalogue to be created in Basque exclusively has involved all manner of decisions and at times raised big questions. The academy publishes linguistic offerings more than anything else, and these will be corrected and improved in the future on more than one occasion.
The Azkue Catalogue and Archive (ABA) comprises the Euskaltzaindia collections. It was created in line with the same criteria as the library catalogue. Hence, all of the above also applies here.
Specialisation
The Azkue Library and Archive specialises in humanities. The Basque language underpins all its collections, i.e. texts written in Basque and those related to the language. There are also resources related more broadly to Basque themes, covering history, anthropology, music, law, folklore and religion. The archive primarily houses the private collections of the most important academics or Bascologists.
The spirit of the deceased Resurrección Maria Azkue has been kept alive by taking a scientific approach to Basque research (hence the high number of texts on linguistics and philology) and by placing the Basque language in its natural context: in its geographical territory, and within its own history and culture.
Special Heritage
The Georges Lacombe library deserves special mention. The entire collection has been catalogued and can be consulted on this website thanks to an agreement between the Torre de Olaso Foundation (the owner of the collection) and Euskaltzaindia.
The Azkue Library currently manages searches of this catalogue.