National Library of the Netherlands

Published: 31 August 2009 Modified: 14 October 2009

The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands) was founded in 1798 and has been an autonomous administrative body since 1993, financed by the Ministry of Education, Culture & Science.

With a budget of €36 million its major activities are the preservation, management, documentation and accessibility of the national cultural heritage. It is a deposit library for Dutch printed and electronic publications and the national bibliography. It is also a research library for the history, language and culture of the Netherlands.

The KB gives researchers and students access to research information, enables the public to share in the riches of our cultural heritage, fosters the national infrastructure for scientific information and furthers permanent access to digital information within an international context.

Holdings

The library holds 3.5 million items, or more than 68 km of library materials, including 49 km of books (2.5 million), 18 km of periodicals (including 15,000 current periodicals) and more than 1 km of microforms.

Acquisition

The deposit collection grows by an average of 40,000 books and 120.000 electronic publications annually. The research collection grows by an average of 19,000 items annually.

Special collections

The KB also houses some 30 special collections including: mediaeval and modern manuscripts, old and rare books, pamphlets, book bindings, marbled papers and books on the history of paper, chess- and draughts, newspapers, cookery books and children's books.