To support the breadth and depth of Jewish Studies teaching at the University of Florida, the Price Library of Judaica collects extensively within the following major categories of the field:
- Judaism: broadly interpreted to include Jewish theology, rabbinical literature, Jewish classical texts and commentaries, liturgy and customs, religious law, mysticism, movements and sects, relations with other religions, homiletics, philosophy and ethics, rabbinic biography, and synagogue history.
- Jewish history: a far-encompassing field spanning roughly 4,000 years of Jewish life in Israel and all countries of the Diaspora, with an emphasis on the major population centers of Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Americas, Israel and Palestine, North Africa, the Middle East, Australia, and Asia.
- Antisemitism and the Holocaust: studies on antisemitism, primary and secondary sources for the comprehensive study of the Holocaust and its aftermath, the historiography of the Holocaust, and selected works of antisemitic literature.
- Israel studies: includes materials on Jewish life during the pre-State period, particularly under Ottoman and British Mandate rule, as well as broad coverage of the modern State of Israel. English-language materials are prioritized for general treatments intended for undergraduate use, while Hebrew-language works are selectively acquired to provide specialized, locally grounded perspectives on Israeli life, especially for advanced students and researchers.
- Bible studies: includes texts, commentaries, and scholarly criticism of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), along with works on biblical history, theology, inter-religious dialogue, biblical archaeology, biblical languages—all selected for their relevance to understanding the development of early Judaism and the Jewish people during the biblical period. The Price Library also actively collects materials relating to Second Temple Judaism, such as studies on the Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
- Jewish languages: materials are selected to support linguistic, literary, and sociocultural research, including works in Hebrew language and literature (both original texts and translations); Yiddish language, literature, and criticism—prioritizing rare and scarce volumes; select works in and about other Jewish languages, such as Ladino, Aramaic, Judeo-Italian, Judeo-Persian, and lesser-known or endangered Jewish languages, are all collected.
Aligned with the mission of the Libraries’ NEH Challenge Grant to support cross-disciplinary research, the Price Library also collects the following geographically focused materials:
- Latin American and Caribbean Jewish Studies: a broad range of primary and secondary sources documenting Jewish life, culture, and history across Latin America and the Caribbean. Materials are collected in multiple languages, with an emphasis on Spanish, Yiddish, Hebrew, and English.
- Florida Jewish History: primary and secondary sources by and about Jews in Florida, from the colonial era to the present. While most materials are in English, the collection remains open to relevant works in Hebrew, Yiddish, Spanish, and other languages as appropriate.