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National Library of Israel special survey: Books published since Oct. 7

“It is in the library's interest to track the development of a new and painful sub-category within the survey,” said spokeswoman Vered Lion-Yerushalmi.

The Main Reading Halls at the new National Library of Israel building. Photo by Iwan Baan.
The Main Reading Halls at the new National Library of Israel building. Photo by Iwan Baan.

The National Library of Israel has issued an update to its annual book-publishing survey dedicated to works published about and after the Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7 and the current war in the Gaza Strip.

The report refers only to books published as of Oct. 7, 2023, and up until Sept. 25, 2024, in Israel and abroad, on topics directly related to the war and its aftermath: the hostages; stories of heroism; demonstrations and protests; memoirs; books in memory of the murdered and fallen; the global rise in antisemitism; academic research; and more.

A total of 169 books and publications have been printed since the outbreak of the war. The most prominent topics are testimonies and stories of heroism (29 books); nonfiction and articles on the effects of the attacks, the war on Israel and Israeli society, the hostages, the Israeli military’s war campaign, the responsibility of the political echelon (30 books); poetry (14); prose (nine); Jewish thought, faith and new prayers (18), art books, including photographs, paintings, illustrations and cartoons (11); children’s books (three); studies and reports by research institutes in Israel and abroad (42); and miscellaneous topics.

Oct. 7 Book Survey National Library of Israel
The National Library of Israel Annual Book-Publishing Survey. Credit: Courtesy.

Library spokeswoman Vered Lion-Yerushalmi, who initiated the special report, said “it was our feeling that Oct. 7 is a pivotal moment in our history that will be written about for decades to come. It is therefore in the library’s interest to track the development of a new and painful sub-category within the survey, covering books published both in Israel and worldwide. To that end, I would like to thank Dr. Ahava Cohen, head of the Catalog Department, who undertook the task of compiling this data out of a deep commitment to the victims of antisemitism, the fallen and the hostages, whose fates are at the heart of this tragic subject.”

The library wishes to emphasize that although almost a year has passed, the survey is only a snapshot since writing and publishing books is a long and complex process also involving research, editing and design.

The survey is based, in part, on data about books received under the Books Law (Legal Deposit), which requires anyone publishing a book of more than 50 copies to deposit two of them with the National Library of Israel. The library therefore appeals to self-published authors and/or non-Israeli publishers to send two (two) copies of their work to the library (link below), so that these may be preserved for research and study in future generations.

The library estimates that in the coming years, hundreds of books will be published in an attempt to record the full range of events now affecting Israel and the Jewish world. It is already aware of a very large number of memorial and commemorative books that will be published just before Oct. 7, 2024, as well as many studies in various scientific fields that have not yet been published.

For the sake of comparison, the library examined the number of books published after the Yom Kippur War. In the first year after the war (October 1973 to December 31, 1974), some 300 books were published. However, over the following 50 years, thousands of more books have been published, in Hebrew and other languages: biographies, nonfiction, memorial and commemorative books, and more.

All books on these topics become part of the library’s efforts to create a massive archive documenting Oct. 7 and its aftermath. The Bearing Witness project seeks to build a state-of-the-art archive that will be the authoritative historical record of this crucial period in Israeli and Jewish history, as well as an essential resource for generations. To date, more than 300 documentation initiatives have been gathered under this umbrella, along with 500 million Internet items, 2 million digital files, and more than 1,000 print publications and ephemera items.

The next survey of books published since Oct. 7, 2023, is planned to be issued as part of the library’s annual book survey, which will be released in time for Hebrew Book Week in June 2025.

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