Collections

With more than 130'000 books, periodicals and booklets about the ecumenical movment during the 20th century, the libraries of the WCC take charge of the biggest collection of this kind in the world. Their other strong points are the Bible, the systematical theology, the ecclesiology, the social ethics, the mission, the history of the Churches, the religions, the role of the women in Church and society, the lays, the peace. They keep also smaller collections about the history of the Church, the patristic, the ethics, the pastorale care and the philosophy.

The following table shows the biggest categories of documents represented in our libraries. They are grouped in classes from the Dewey Decimal Classification System.

Periodicals are classed by alphabetical order of title. Pamphlets marked with the prefix “Br” are kept in boxes in the library, following the same classification as the books. 

Folios or large formats with the prefix “F” are to be found in the reference room, again with the same classification.