The Special Collections of the Ibero-American Institute (IAI) are a central interface between the library, research and cultural mediation. Organizationally, the holdings of the Special Collections are divided into Collections from Corporate Bodies, Film Collection, Image Arquive, Art Prints and Illustrations Arquive, Map Collection, Papers and Manuscripts, Audio Library, Poster Collection and Newspaper Clippings Collection. However, the special quality of the Special Collections and their importance for national and international research lies precisely in the fact that they are composed of a great diversity of different types of analog and digital materials that are interconnected with each other. In combination with the IAI's library holdings, this translates into unique opportunities to link text, sound and image sources. The holdings of the Image Arquive, for example, are largely derived from Papers and Manuscripts held at the IAI. The IAI Library contains a wealth of supplementary materials for all Special Collections.

The unique, diverse and interrelated materials of the IAI Special Collections are repeatedly the starting point for national and international research, publication and exhibition projects. Many guest researchers at the IAI are particularly interested in the Special Collections and benefit from the fact that they can do research with these materials at the IAI in a context that offers the possibility to work with the books and journals in the IAI library and to be in contact with researchers of the institute at the same time. The IAI Special Collections not only provide users with new knowledge and cultural experiences, but also make a special contribution to the preservation of the cultural heritage of Latin America, the Caribbean and the Iberian Peninsula.

IAI Special Collections materials are professionally stored, catalogued and made available to the public within the scope of the Institute's staff resources and in the framework of projects funded by third parties. Some Special Collections materials are already accessible online through the Institute's Digital Collections. The IAI follows established national and international regulations, standards and procedures when preserving and making accessible analog and digital research data, such as those in the Institute's Special Collections. These include, for example, the DFG's "Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice. Code of Conduct" of the DFG (2019), "The FAIR Guiding Principles for the Management and Custody of Scientific Data" and the "Position Paper on the Handling of Ethnological Research Data" of the German Society for Social and Cultural Anthropology (DGSKA)" of October 1, 2019. Out of respect for cultural sensitivities, access to individual images may be restricted.

Due to the different types of materials and their various conditions, these holdings are subject to special regulations. Some resources have not been indexed in the online catalog and can only be accessed by searching the special catalogs or inventories. More detailed information can be found in the individual sections on each collection.

Group tours of the collections are available on request.

The use of the IAI's Special Collections is possible by appointment only. Please direct all requests for access to individual Special Collections to colecciones@iai.spk-berlin.de  

Publications related to the IAI´s Special Collections

Special Collections in the IAI's Digital Collections

Photos © IAI, photographer: Stefan Maria Rother