Classical Jungian training and professional practice emphasizes scholarship. Institute libraries are fundamental sources of this material.
Library users work not only in the theory of analytical psychology but also in the fields of literature, history, medicine, philosophy, ethnography, religion, and the arts. Because of this broad base of study, Jungian libraries include texts and manuscripts in a variety of fields including collections of ancient or out of print books in alchemy and religion (some dating from the 17th century). Specialty reference, sand play, art, and fairytales are particularly important books for candidates, scholars, and analysts from around the world who depend upon the lineage of specialty books collected in Jungian libraries.
In addition to texts, some Institute archives preserve large collections of images. These collections express the collective unconscious not only in broad cultural and historical contexts but also, at the C.G. Jung Institute, Zürich, through individual drawings and paintings. Series of drawings by patients of Jung and other first-generation analysts provide an invaluable record of how archetypal symbolism is expressed and developed in the process of individuation.
Upkeep and additions to collections assure archival longevity and complement printed and digital materials for the student, researcher, and public. Support for the library and archives can be specified for various worthy projects:
- Archival care and preservation of original image collections
- Digital preservation of original image collections
- Automation of the library systems to make resources more readily available to scholars and the public
- Archival care of existing manuscripts and the strengthening of collections with new publications
- Digital preservation of particularly rare or significant collections.