The Johannissyan library, with its invaluable collection of specialized books, articles, archival documents, audio and video recordings constitutes the core scientific resource for the Johannissyan Research Institute in the Humanities.
Its collection of 3000 print and 30,000 digital publications, as well as more than 32,000 art related visual materials, personal archives and approximately 17,000 digitized archival texts and images make the Johannissyan Library a unique repository for scholarly resources for students and researchers alike, and a guide for their explorations. The predominance of humanistic literature – art history and theory, philosophy, historical studies, contemporary critical theory as well as literature pertaining to Armenian Studies – shape the Institute’s humanistic profile.
The Johannissyan Library prioritizes accessibility and publicity of its specialized scholarly literature as well as dissemination of current and ongoing research in order to activate the library as a living organism for scholarly work. Some of the most visible realizations of these priorities include Living Library. An Ecosphere for Research, Johannissyan Archives that implements the preservation, systematization and digitalization of archival materials of scholarly and artistic significance, the bibliographical project Who is Ashot Johannissyan, which aims at the collection and preservation of Ashot Johannissyan’s legacy and its historical and theoretical reevaluation, the membership to the Independent Library’s network through which we publicize our specialized literature and visual materials.
The Johannissyan Library is the nexus of the Institute’s ongoing scholarly activities with the reader acting both as a participant and witness to the vibrant environment of research and production. In order to encourage collaboration with younger scholars the Library provides an opportunity for them to present and discuss their ongoing and unpublished research, to receive professional advice and collaborate with the Institute in various ways.
The atmosphere of vibrant and living thought is also provided through periodic thematic discussions, lectures, reading sessions and film screenings organized in the library, which are also opportunities for researchers and readers to form new scholarly and friendly connections.
Living Library. A vital environment for research
The network of Independent Libraries
Johannissyan Archives
Who is Ashot Johannissyan