Map Department
Our collection
Our collection is impressive in both range and depth. The Zentralbibliothek Zürich pursues an active purchasing policy and we possess material dating from the 16th century to the present day.
As you would expect we have a comprehensive collection of material concerning the City of Zurich and its environs. We are however also very proud to possess an extensive national and international collection with indigenous material from all continents well represented within the same time scale.
It is important to remember though that the map department is more than just a top class repository. Our highly trained staff are delighted to use their extensive expertise to aid you with your request.
Our requests usually come from…
- urban or rural planners who wish to trace the evolution of a particular
region
- research students with a particular interest in historical geography
- those who are interested in tracing the changing nature of map
accuracy
- those who recognise that five centuries of maps represent a
formidable source of artistic inspiration
- those who are planning a foreign trip and prefer to access a ‘real’ map
as opposed to an online version
Whether you fall into one of these categories or not the department staff is always only too pleased to deal with your query.
Just ask!
You can contact us in person, by telephone or by e-mail for answers to your questions about maps or the history of maps. Often research done in this way is more successful: many foreign map materials have not yet been integrated in the online library catalogue, or our map librarians are the only people that can find them.