Our Collections
With the collections of the Institute of Missiology missio e.V., the mission library of the Jesuits and the library of 'Die Sternsinger' e.V., we count among the specialized libraries with the most extensive collections on the topics of mission, universal church, and contextual theologies.
The Library
With a total portfolio of 200.000 media, mikado counts among the specialized libraries with the most extensive portfolios on the topics of the world church, mission, and contextual theologies. The media portfolio comprises books, essays, journals, DVDs as well as non-published documents (Grey Literature). Mikado acquires, collects and finds suitable media especially from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania that focus on the subjects of contextual theologies and philosophies, missiology, religious science and the situation of the local churches.
Mikado users can search for books, journals, essays and other media via our quadrilingual online catalogue.
In April 1917, the library of the Missionary Association of St. Francis Xavier was founded in Aachen. The collections of the library are still to a large extent comprised in the Mikado portfolio and thus give insights into the evolution of the concept of mission in the missionary literature from the 17th century until the present day.
The previous mission library of the Jesuits in Bonn complements the mikado portfolio as an independent collection since 1998. It is a unique source of information on the history of mission, thanks to an extensive collection of missionary journals from the 19th and 20th centuries among other important documents.
Also a part of the library of the Comboni Missionary Institute in Ellwangen has been added to the mikado portfolio. The collection mainly consists of selected works of fiction from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The mikado portfolio also comprises several literary remains and authors’ libraries, including the libraries of Professor Horst Bürkle or the religious scholar Dr. Martin Kämpchen.
The Archive
Additional to the library, also an archive for the collection and conservation of files and documents on the history of missio and the Institute of Missiology missio e.V. is an integral part of mikado. The archive portfolio comprises for instance the Memorandum of Association of the Missionary Association of St. Francis Xavier dating from December 7th 1841 as well as the correspondence of Dr. Heinrich Hahn, the founder of missio, dating from the years between 1834 and 1877, comprising 319 letters to the Central Council of the Institute of the Evangelization of Peoples located in Lyon.
Different from the library’s collections, the portfolio of the archive cannot be browsed through online.
The Picture Library
Like the archive, also the picture library of missio is attached to mikado. It comprises a collection of more than 500.000 photographies mainly originating from Africa, Asia and Oceania. In the extensive image and media data base you will find photos, videos and audios for projects, campaigns and key topics of missio.