The collection of the East Asia Department of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin emphasises the Social Sciences and the Humanities, reflecting the department's responsibility for materials from and about East, Southeast, and Central Asia (see Collections & Acquisition profile).

Newly-acquired publications regarding East, Southeast, and Central Asia, compiled bi-annually and arranged by country, can be found on the web page Accession Lists. 

The joint open access reading room (OLS) of both the Oriental and the East Asia Departments allocates some 20,000 items of reference materials, bibliographies, dictionaries etc., as well as the latest issues of current journals and magazines.

Opening hours of the OLS are: Mon-Sat 8:00-22:00.

The terms of use of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin govern the regulations concerning in-house lending (Ausleihe), inter-library lending and document delivery services (Fernleihe / Dokumentlieferung), for materials published after 1956, according to the terms of use (Benutzungs- & Gebuehrenordnung) of the Staatsbibliothek, and the online interlending rules of the Common Library Network (Gemeinsamer Bibliotheksverbund; GBV).

Readers may use the in-house DigiService, or the document delivery service, SUBITO, to have copies of articles delivered directly to their homes, at a charge.
The Blauer Leihverkehr (BLV, Blue Loan Service) is a special type of interlibrary loan for original language materials in East Asian languages. Books or photocopies may be ordered online or with blue-coloured ILL order slips and are delivered directly to the institutions and relevant departments at universities or other scholarly, academic and scientific institutions from the field of Asian Studies that take part in the BLV as the EAD's contract partners. They in turn provide their readers with the ordered materials.

Materials - monographs, journals - not among the holdings of the EAD can be ordered by online purchase suggestion (Anschaffungsvorschlag), after consideration by an EAD subject specialist librarian who will inform you about the decision and the approximate date of availability.

In case of any questions, the librarians of the East Asia Department will be happy to assist you.