presentation

The library has a rich collection of books and periodicals in the field of social sciences and humanities, among which are unique, rare, and priceless antique editions, some dating from 1566. It also includes the Husserliana series, Boston Studies series, Synthese Language Library series, and others. The library was founded in 1948 as an independent unit of the Institute of Philosophy at the BAS. It is structured according to the main areas of philosophical knowledge — ontology, epistemology, logic, philosophy and methodology of science, ethics, aesthetics, social philosophy, philosophy of religion, politics, and law — but in addition it contains many publications from the fields of science, economics, religion, and culture. The library catalogue amounts to 32,952 items, of which 24,929 are books and 8,023 are periodicals. Of these, 7,956 books and periodicals are in Bulgarian, 10,443 are in Russian, and the rest are in other Slavic languages as well as English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. A total of 78 titles currently comprise the periodicals section, among which 55 magazines and 23 other publications are maintained in Bulgarian, Russian, and other languages.