Discover

This is a 'list of national libraries' of the world. A national library is a library specifically established by the government of a nation to serve as the preeminent repository of information for that country. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant works; such as the Library of Congress's Gutenberg Bible. Some of the first libraries were national libraries; for example, the Library of Alexandria was the national library of Ptolemaic Egypt. National libraries are usually notable for their size, compared to that of other libraries in the same country.
Some national entities which are not independent but who wish to preserve their particular culture, have established a national library with all the attributes of such institutions, such as legal deposit.
National libraries of Europe participate in The European Library. This is a service of The Conference of European National Librarians (CENL).
The list below is organized alphabetically by country. A "
★ " indicates a national library of a non-sovereign nation. It is listed under the sovereign state which governs that nation.

Contents

List of national libraries

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

Z

See also

References

List of national libraries

A

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Afghanistan	National Library of Afghanistan	Kabul				[1]
	Albania	Biblioteka Kombetare (National Library)	Tirana	1922	1996	973,644
	Algeria	Bibliothèque nationale d'Algérie (National Library of Algeria)	Algiers				[2]
	Andorra	Biblioteca Nacional d'Andorra	Andorra la Vella				[3]
	Angola	Biblioteca Nacional de Angola	Luanda				[4]
	Argentina	Biblioteca Nacional de la República Argentina	Buenos Aires				[5]
	Armenia	National Library of Armenia	Yerevan				[6]
	Australia	National Library of Australia	Canberra				[7]
	Austria	Österreichische Nationalbibliothek	Vienna				[8]
	Azerbaijan	Akhundov National Library (National Library of Azerbaijan)	Baku				[9]

B

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Bahamas	College of The Bahamas Library ''(de facto)''	Nassau				[10]
	Bahrain	Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa National Library (under construction)	Manama				[11]
	Bangladesh	National Library of Bangladesh	Dhaka				[12]
	Barbados	National Library Service of Barbados	Bridgetown				[13]
	Belarus	Natsional'naia Biblioteka Belarusi (National Library of Belarus)	Minsk				[14]
	Belgium	Royal Library of Belgium	Bruxelles				[15]
	Belize	National Library Service of Belize	Belize City				[16]
	Benin	Bibliothèque nationale du Bénin	Porto Novo				[17]
	Bermuda	Bermuda Library	Hamilton
	Bhutan	National Library of Bhutan	Thimphu				[18]
	Bolivia	Biblioteca y Archivo Nacional de Bolivia (National Library and Archive of Bolivia)	Sucre				[19]
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Bosne i Hercegovine (National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina)	Sarajevo				[20]
	Botswana	National Library Service of Botswana	Gaborone				[21]
	Brazil	Fundação Biblioteca Nacional	Rio de Janeiro				[22]
	Brunei	Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Library (Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka Brunei Library)	Bandar Seri Begawan				[23]
	Bulgaria	SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library	Sofia				[24]
	Burkina Faso	Bibliothèque nationale du Burkina Faso	Ouagadougou				[25]
	Burundi	Bibliothèque nationale du Burundi	Bujumbura

C

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Cambodia	National Library of Cambodia	Phnom Penh
	Cameroon	Bibliothèque nationale du Cameroun	Yaounde				[26]
	Canada	Library and Archives Canada	Ottawa				[27]
		CISTI - National Science Library	Ottawa				[28]
★	• Quebec	Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec	Montreal				[29]
	Cape Verde	Biblioteca Nacional de Cabo Verde (BNCV; National Library of Cape Verde)					[30]
	Central African Republic
	Chad	National Archives	N'Djamena				[31]
	Chile	Biblioteca Nacional de Chile	Santiago				[32]
	People's Republic of China	National Library of China (中国国家图书馆)	Beijing				[33]
★	• Macau	Biblioteca Central de Macau (澳門中央圖書館, Macau Central Library)	Macau				[34]
	Republic of China (Taiwan)	National Central Library (國家圖書館)	Taipei				[35]
	Colombia	Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia	Bogotá				[36]
	Comores	National Centre for Documentation and Scientific Research	Moroni				[37]
	Republic of the Congo	Bibliothèque nationale populaire	Brazzaville				[38]
	Democratic Republic of the Congo	Bibliothèque nationale de la République démocratique du Congo	Kinshasa
	Costa Rica	Biblioteca Nacional de Salud y Seguridad Social (National Library of Health and Social Security)	San José				[39]
	Côte d'Ivoire	Bibliothèque nationale de Côte d'Ivoire	Abidjan
	Croatia	Nacionalna i sveučilišna knjižnica (National and University Library)	Zagreb				[40]
	Cuba	Biblioteca Nacional José Martí	Habana				[41]
	Cyprus	Kypriake Vivliotheke (Cyprus Library)	Nicosia
	Czech Republic	Národní knihovna České republiky	Prague				[42]

D

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Denmark	Det Kongelige Bibliotek (Royal Library)	Copenhagen				[43]
		Danmarks Natur og Lægevidenskabelig Bibliotek (Danish National Library of Science and Medicine)	Copenhagen				[44]
		Danmarks Veterinær og Jordbrugsbibliotek (National Veterinary and Agricultural Library)	Frederiksberg				[45]
		Danmarks Pædagogiske Bibliotek (National Library of Education)	Copenhagen				[46]
★	• Faroe Islands	Føroya landsbókasavn (Landsbókasavniþ)	Torshavn				[47]
★	• Greenland	Nunatta Atuagaateqarfia (Det Grønlandske Landsbibliotek, Public and National Library of Greenland)	Nuuk				[48]
	Djibouti
	Dominican Republic	Biblioteca Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña	Santo Domingo				[49]

E

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Ecuador	Biblioteca Nacional del Ecuador (National Library of Ecuador)	Quito				[50]
	Egypt	Egyptian National Library and Archives	Cairo				[51]
		Egyptian National Agricultural Library	Giza				[52]
	El Salvador	Biblioteca Nacional de El Salvador (National Library of El Salvador)	San Salvador				[53]
	Equatorial Guinea	Ministry of Education and Sciences	Malabo				[54]
	Eritrea	University of Eritrea Library	Asmara				[55]
	Estonia	Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu (National Library of Estonia)	Tallinn				[56]
	Ethiopia	National Library of Ethiopia	Addis Ababa				[57]

F

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Fiji	Library Service of Fiji	Suva				[58]
	Finland	Kansalliskirjasto (National Library)	Helsinki				[59]
	France	Bibliothèque nationale de France (National Library of France)	Paris				[60]

G

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Gabon	Direction générale des Archives nationales, de la Bibliothèque nationale et de la Documentation gabonaise (DGABD)	Libreville				[61]
	The Gambia	National Library of The Gambia	Banjul				[62]
	Georgia	National Parliamentary Library of Georgia	Tbilisi				[63]
	Germany	German National Library, with duties shared between: — Deutsche Bücherei Leipzig — Deutsche Bibliothek Frankfurt	Leipzig				[64]
Frankfurt am Main
Deutsches Musikarchiv Berlin (German Music Archive)		Berlin
	Ghana	Ghana Library Board	Accra				[65]
	Greece	Ethnike Bibliotheke tes Hellados (Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη της Ελλάδος) (National Library of Greece)	Athens				[66]
	Guatemala	Biblioteca Nacional de Guatemala (National Library of Guatemala)	Guatemala City				[67]
	Guinea	Bibliothèque nationale de Guinée	Conakry				[68]
	Guinea-Bissau	Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisa (INEP, National Institute for Studies and Research)	Bairro-Cobornel				[69]
	Guyana	National Library of Guyana	Georgetown				[70]

H

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Haiti	Bibliothèque nationale d'Haïti	Port-au-Prince				[71]
	Honduras	Biblioteca Nacional de Honduras (National Library of Honduras)	Tegucigalpa				[72]
	Hungary	Országos Széchényi Könyvtár	Budapest				[73]

I

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Iceland	Landsbókasafn Íslands Háskólabókasafn (National and University Library of Iceland)	Reykjavík				[74]
	India	National Library of India	Calcutta				[75]
		Indian Agricultural Research Library	New Delhi				[76]
		Tamil Nadu Agricultural University	Tamil Nadu				[77]
		National Science Library of India	New Delhi				[78]
		Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre (INSDOC)	New Delhi				[79]
	Indonesia	National Library of Indonesia	Central Jakarta				[80]
	Iran	National Library of Iran	Tehran				[81]
		Central Library of Astan Quds Razavi	Mashad				[82]
		Tabriz National Library	Tabriz				[83]
		Malek National Library	Tehran				[84]
	Iraq	Iraq National Library and Archive	Baghdad				[85]
	Ireland	Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann (National Library of Ireland)	Dublin				[86]
	Israel	Jewish National and University Library	Jerusalem				[87]
	Italy	Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Firenze (National Central Library Florence)	Florence				[88]
		Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma (National Central Library in Rome)	Rome				[89]

J

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Jamaica	National Library of Jamaica	Kingston				[90]
	Japan	National Diet Library	Tokyo				[91]
	Jordan	National Library of Jordan	Amman				[92]

K

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Kazakhstan	National Library of Kazakhstan (Национальная библиотека Республики Казахстан)	Almaty				[93]
	Kenya	National Library Service of Kenya	Nairobi				[94]
	Kiribati	National Library and Archives of Kiribati	Bairiki				[95]
	North Korea	Grand People's Study House	Pyongyang				[96]
	South Korea	National Library of Korea	Seoul				[97]
		National Digital Library	Seoul				[98]
		National Congress Library	Seoul				[99]
		National Library for Children and Young Adults	Seoul				[100]
	Kuwait	National Library of Kuwait	Kuwait				[101]
	Kyrgyzstan	National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic	Bishkek				[102]

L

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Laos	National Library of Laos	Vientiane				[103]
	Latvia	Latvijas Nacionālā bibliotēka	Rīga				[104]
	Lebanon	Bakleen National Library	Beirut				[105]
	Lesotho	Lesotho National Library	Maseru				[106]
	Libya	National Library of Libya	Benghazi				[107]
	Liechtenstein	Liechtensteinische Landesbibliothek (Liechtenstein State Library)	Vaduz				[108]
	Lithuania	Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania	Vilnius				[109]
	Luxembourg	Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg (National Library of Luxembourg)	Luxembourg				[110]

M

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Republic of Macedonia	National and University Library St. Kliment Ohridski	Skopje				[111]
	Madagascar	Bibliothèque nationale de Madagascar	Antananarivo
	Malawi	National Library Service of Malawi	Lilongwe				[112]
	Malaysia	Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur				[113]
	Maldives	National Library of the Maldives	Galolhu Malé				[114]
	Mali	Bibliothèque nationale du Mali	Bamako				[115]
	Malta	National Library of Malta	Valetta				[116]
	Marshall Islands	Alele Museum, Library and National Archives	Majuro				[117]
	Mauritania	Bibliothèque nationale de Mauritanie	Nouakchott				[118]
	Mauritius	National Library of Mauritius	Port Louis				[119]
	Mexico	Biblioteca Nacional de México	Mexico City				[120]
		Hemeroteca Nacional de México (National Newspaper and Periodicals Library of Mexico)	Mexico City				[121]
	Moldova	Biblioteca Naţională a Republicii Moldova (National Library of Moldova)	Chişinău				[122]
	Monaco	Bibliothèque Louis Notari	Monaco				[123]
	Mongolia	State Public Library of Mongolia	Ulaanbaatar				[124]
	Montenegro	Centralna narodna biblioteka Republike Crne Gore (Central National Library of the Republic of Montenegro)	Cetinje				[125]
	Morocco	Bibliothèque Générale et Archives	Rabat and Tétouan				[126]
	Mozambique	Biblioteca Nacional de Moçambique	Maputo				[127]
	Myanmar	Myanmar National Library	Yangon				[128]

N

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Namibia	National Library of Namibia	Windhoek				[129]
	Nepal	National Library of Nepal	Pulchowk, Lalitpur				[130]
	Netherlands	Koninklijke Bibliotheek	The Hague				[131]
★	• Aruba	Biblioteca Nacional Aruba (Aruba National Library)	Oranjestad				[132]
	New Zealand	National Library of New Zealand	Wellington				[133]
★	• Cook Islands	Cook Islands Library and Museum Society	Rarotonga				[134]
	Nicaragua	Biblioteca Nacional Rubén Darío	Managua				[135]
		Biblioteca Nacional de Salud (National Health Library)	Managua?				[136]
	Nigeria	National Library of Nigeria	Lagos				[137]
	Norway	Nasjonalbiblioteket	Oslo				[138]

O

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Oman	Sultan Qaboos University Library	Muscat				[139]

P

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Pakistan	National Library of Pakistan	Islamabad				[140]
	Panama	Biblioteca Nacional de Panamá	Panama City				[141]
	Papua New Guinea	National Library of Papua New Guinea	Boroko				[142]
	Paraguay	Biblioteca y Archivo Nacional de Paraguay	Asunción				[143]
	Peru	Biblioteca Nacional del Perú	Lima				[144]
	Philippines	National Library of the Philippines	Manila				[145]
	Poland	National Library of Poland(Biblioteka Narodowa)	Warsaw				[146]
	Portugal	Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal	Lisbon				[147]

Q

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Qatar	National Library of Qatar	Doha				[148]

R

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Romania	Biblioteca Naţională a României	Bucharest				[149]
	Russia	Russian State Library (Российская Государственная Библиотека)	Moscow				[150]
		Russian National Library (Российская национальная библиотека)	St. Petersburg				[151]
	Rwanda	Bibliothèque nationale du Rwanda	Kigali				[152]

S

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	Charles A. Halbert Public Library	Basseterre
	Saint Lucia	Central Library of Saint Lucia	Castries				[153]
	San Marino	Biblioteca di Stato e Beni Librari	San Marino
	Saudi Arabia	King Fahad National Library	Riyadh				[154]
	Senegal	Archives nationales du Sénégal	Dakar				[155]
	Serbia	Narodna biblioteka Srbije (National Library of Serbia)	Belgrade				[156]
		Biblioteka Matice srpske(Yugoslav National Library)	Novi Sad				[157]
	Seychelles	National Library of the Seychelles	Mahé				[158]
	Sierra Leone	Sierra Leone Library Board	Freetown				[159]
	Singapore	National Library, Singapore	Singapore				[160]
	Slovakia	Slovenská národná knižnica (Slovak National Library)	Martin				[161]
	Slovenia	Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica (National and University Library)	Ljubljana				[162]
	Solomon Islands	National Library Service of the Solomon Islands	Honiara				[163]
	Somalia	National Library of Somalia	Mogadishu				[164]
	South Africa	National Library of South Africa — Nasionale Biblioteek van Suid Afrika	Pretoria				[165]
			Cape Town
	Spain	Biblioteca Nacional de España	Madrid				[166]
★	• Catalonia	Biblioteca de Catalunya	Barcelona				[167]
	Sri Lanka	National Library of Sri Lanka	Colombo				[168]
	Sudan	National Records Office (archives)	Khartoum				[169]
	Swaziland	Swaziland National Library Service	Mbabane				[170]
	Sweden	Kungliga Biblioteket	Stockholm				[171]
	Switzerland	Swiss National Library — Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek — Bibliothèque nationale suisse	Berne				[172]
	Syria	Al-Assad National Library	Damascus				[173]

T

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Tajikistan	State Republic Library	Dushanbe				[174]
	Tanzania	Tanzania Library Service	Dar es Salaam				[175]
	Thailand	National Library of Thailand (หอสมุดแห่งชาติ)	Bangkok				[176]
	Togo	Bibliothèque nationale du Togo	Lomé				[177]
	Trinidad and Tobago	National Library and Information System	Port of Spain				[178]
	Tunisia	Bibliothèque nationale de Tunisie	Tunis				[179]
	Turkey	Milli Kütüphane (National Library)	Ankara				[180]
	Turkmenistan	National Library of Turkmenistan	Ashgabat				[181]
	Tuvalu	National Library and Archives of Tuvalu	Funafuti				[182]

U

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Uganda	National Library of Uganda	Kampala				[183]
	Ukraine	Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine (Національна бібліотека України імені В.І. Вернадського)	Kiev				[184]
	United Arab Emirates	Cultural Foundation National Library	Abu Dhabi				[185]
	United Kingdom	British Library	London				[186]
			Boston Spa (Wetherby)
★	• Scotland	National Library of Scotland	Edinburgh				[187]
★	• Wales	National Library of Wales (Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru)	Aberystwyth				[188]
	United States	Library of Congress	Washington, D.C.				[189]
		National Library of Medicine	Bethesda				[190]
		National Agricultural Library	Beltsville				[191]
		National Archives and Records Administration	College Park				[192]
	Uruguay	Biblioteca Nacional del Uruguay	Montevideo				[193]
	Uzbekistan	National Library of Uzbekistan	Tashkent				[194]

V

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Vanuatu	National Library of Vanuatu	Port Vila				[195]
	Vatican City	Vatican Library (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana)	Vatican City				[196]
	Venezuela	Biblioteca Nacional de Venezuela	Caracas				[197]
	Vietnam	National Library of Vietnam	Hanoi				[198]

Z

'Country'	'Library'	'City'	' Tenable time '	' Quantity'	'Official website'
Year stops	Book
	Zambia	Zambia Library Service	Lusaka				[199]
	Zimbabwe	National Free Library of Zimbabwe	Bulawayo				[200]

See also

★ List of libraries

★ The European Library

References

★ National Libraries of the World: Address List

★ UNESCO Libraries portal

★ National Libraries Websites