Written by Athina Pfeiffer and Mathias Ghyoot (2024)

INtroduction

The Center for Legal, Economic, and Social Studies and Documentation (CEDEJ) is a French research institute located in Garden City in Cairo, created in 1968 through an agreement between France and Egypt. CEDEJ works on contemporary Egypt from within the humanities and social sciences, and has a library with more than 36,000 volumes and 6,500 maps, including the library collection of the old French School of Law in Cairo.

CEDEJ is open Sunday through Thursday from 9am to 4pm.

Location: Google Maps

GOING THERE

Grab a taxi or an Uber to CEDEJ. It is located on Gamal al-Din Abu al-Mahasin Street 23, in the building of the Crédit Agricole Bank.

GETTING IN

Walk down the small alley on the left side of the building and go up to the second floor. Ring the doorbell, and a librarian or a guard will let you in and make you register your name in the registrar. From there on, you have full access to the library of CEDEJ.

Finding your material

CEDEJ has an online catalog that you can access remotely or onsite by way of one of the many computers located in the room next to the reception. While you’re allowed to venture into the stacks yourself, you’re not allowed to fetch the books themselves. Please also be aware that books and periodicals are not categorized thematically on the shelves, but by number and size.

Ordering your material

Once you’ve located your material, note down the “Barcode,” and inform the librarians in charge. They will then fetch the material for you from the stacks, which you’re then free to peruse in the Reading Room.

Ordering scans

Officially, you’re only allowed to scan 10% of any book or periodical. You can do so with your own camera or phone, or by using the onsite black-and-white scanner.

Food and well-being

CEDEJ is squeezed in between the Four Seasons and Kempinski Hotel, making food options pricey. Instead, bring your own food or grab a taxi (or take a short walk) to find other options to buy food and beverages around Garden City. Bathrooms are decent at CEDEJ.

ADDITIONAL REMARKS

CEDEJ sells a limited number of their own publications, primarily monographs and studies related to the history of modern Egypt.