Middle East Centre Library

*Please note: The MEC Library will be closed for 1 day on Friday 26 July 2024 and then again for the summer vacation on Monday 19 to Friday 30 August 2024 inclusive*

About the Library

The Middle East Centre (MEC) Library was originally established in 1957 and was first housed in a Victorian building until October 2015. Since then, it has been housed in the Investcorp Building, an architecturally impressive building designed by renowned British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid and which features a modern and comfortable reading room. Most of the lending collection is available to readers on open shelf and is stored in electronically-operated bays accessible from its reading room.

The MEC Library is a graduate library and is committed to the provision of services to the research community within the Oxford University, and to scholars worldwide. The Library has unique and specialised holdings of publications in Humanities and Social Science subjects related to Turkey, Iran, Israel, and the Arab countries, covering the period from the late 17th century to the present day. 

The Library’s opening hours are Monday to Thursday 9am-5pm and Friday 9am-4.30pm.

The MEC Library summer closure this year will be from Monday 19 to Friday 30 August 2024.

Registrations are Tuesday or Friday mornings, by appointment ONLY.

For enquiries and to book a registration appointment please contact meclibrary@sant.ox.ac.uk.

For scanning requests, please consult the Scan Requests page.

Book Sale

Visit our book sale of pre-loved books. New titles added weekly. Browse our list of titles if you can’t come in.