Library
About the Library
The library of the Court is an international court library specialised in the European human rights system. Created in 1966 the library has built up an important fund of general human rights literature as well as items on other human rights systems. The majority of the material is in one of the two official languages, French and English, but there are also items in German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and other languages. The library serves primarily the Court and its Registry in their judicial and publishing activities. External researchers are also welcome to come and take advantage of the collection.
News
16/02/2026
The companion to the European Convention on Human Rights
Over time the corpus of rights and obligations under the European Convention has developed into a system of autonomous concepts, with the ECHR acting as its master of conceptualisation. This companion seeks to identify and explain what these concepts are, how they have evolved, and how they have been applied by the Court. It presents a compilation and analysis of nearly 300 Convention notions on Convention rights, principles and procedures.
The companion to the European Convention on Human Rights / edited by Kushtrim Istrefi, Zane Ratniece and Krešimir Kamber. - Leiden ; Boston : Brill Nijhoff, 2025. - xxiv, 927 p. ; 24 cm. - ISBN: 9789004541542 (hbk.)
My first visit - what to do
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Appointment – indicate your preferred date and research topic when you contact us
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Identification – present your passport/identity card at the entrance and you will receive a day pass for the Library
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Reading room – you will be escorted to the Library, where you have direct access to the collection
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Facilities – there are lockers for your belongings, and free Wi-Fi
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Cancellation – in case you cannot keep your appointment, please inform us
Call number plan
Library Facts
Area: 560m2 on 2 floors
Collection - Catalogue items: 83,600
Monographs: 31,500
Digital items: 1,000
Articles in periodicals: 34,100
Chapters in books: 13,100
Doctrines on the European Convention: 2,900
Periodicals titles: 131
Catalogue: Online catalogue
Library System: SirsiDynix (USA) – Symphony 4.0.0.
Cataloguing Format: MARC 21
Cataloguing Rules: Anglo-American cataloguing rules. 2nd ed., 1998 revision
Transliteration Rules: ALA-LC romanization tables: transliteration schemes for non-roman scripts. 1997
Classification System: Classification decimale universelle. - 1990 with internal adaptions
Thesaurus: Internal keyword list
Staff: 4 librarians
Library Committee: 5 judges and 4 members of the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights
Former Heads of the Library:
Sigfrid BEIN – 1966-1999
Nora (Eleonora) BINDER – 1999-2001 (acting)
Nora (Eleonora) BINDER – 2002-2016
Genevieve WOODS - 2016-2024
Contact
European Court of Human Rights
Library
F-67075 Strasbourg cedex
Tel. :+33(0)3.90.21.41.53
Fax :+33(0)3.90.21.40.56
For an appointment please indicate your preferred date, and give an outline of your research topic. Online contact form
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Appointments
COE staff have automatic access to the Library.
External visitors are kindly asked to take an
You are welcomed by:
Yann SOUPPART – Head of the Library
Alain HEISSERER – Deputy Head of the Library
Aaron FLEMING – Librarian
Barry TOLAND – Librarian