This report looks at the national libraries of four countries; those being the British Library, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, the Library of Congress, National Library of Russia and the Russian State Library.
It was from the 1600s onwards that national, state supported collections began to appear as libraries grew in popularity and university libraries developed, however, some can trace their origins even earlier. This is true for France whose national library dates back to the 1300s. In Britain, a national library was established in 1759 but in other countries however, the national library emerged later as was the case in USA where the Library of Congress dates from 1800 and in Russia where the National Library of Russia was founded in 1795 and the Russian State Library in 1862.
Each of these libraries has expanded, evolved and adapted to the challenges and changes faced through the centuries to become renowned and at the forefront of new library technologies and tools for the 21st century.
British Library
The British Library we know today is very young - operating since 1973 after the passing of the British Library Act of 1972. However, its origins go back to the Library departments of the British Museum and in particular the Department of Printed Books. The library evolved as the "collected historical documents, literary manuscripts and scientific specimens" of private, wealthy individuals were "given or sold to the nation".
Several private collections were subsequently purchased by the government, most notably that of Sir Hans Sloane (late 1700s) and later King George II added his private royal library which contained items collected by his predecessors back to Edward IV in the 1400s. This combination of gifts and legal deposit continued through the 1800s and saw the library grow and expand to also include and incorporate other libraries and have many constituent parts. The Patent Office Library, the National Reference Library of Science and Invention, the National Central Library, British National Bibliography, and India Office Library and Records emerged and some amalgamated so that by the 1960s the serious lack of storage space led to the recognition that a new building is the library's most urgent need.
More comprehensive information can be found on the British Library's website by following links to about us/quickinfo/facts/history.
 |
| The British Library, St Pancras, London |
Despite the controversial opening of the new British Library at St. Pancras in 1998, due mainly to the criticisms aimed at the exterior architectural design of the building, the library has been praised for the sweeping light and space of it's interior. More information on this controversy can be found in an article by Lennon in the publication, Europe.
It has also focused on meeting the challenges of the coming decades as it embraces digitisation, the conservation and preservation of it's extensive collection and meeting the needs of and reaching out to it's users through library Web 2.0 tools and a significant online presence.
 |
| Interior view of the British Library with the Kings Library housed behind glass towers |
Bibliotheque Nationale de France
France's national library began as Bibliotheque du Roi, the King's Library during the reign of Charles V in 1364-1380. Legal deposit was introduced in 1537 and the library increased its collection by continuing to acquire materials through donations, bequests and other means such as confiscations (during the French Revolution) and exchanges.
As a part of its long history, the Bibliotheque du Roi was first housed in the Louvre, then over the decades moved to Fontainebleau and back to Paris where it was located in the Mazarin Palace in Rue de Richelieu in 1721.
 |
| Reading Room, Richelieu Building, Bibliotheque Nationale de France |
After being enlarged repeatedly, a new building was constructed in 1996 to allow the Bibliotheque Nationale de France to continue its expansion and focus itself towards the emerging library 2.0 tools and technologies of digitisation, conservation and preservation. The controversial, modern and futuristic design for the building had initial problems which were rectified (at great extra cost), but a new building has allowed the library to maintain fourteen departments across five public sites with over 30 million items making it one of the largest national libraries in the world today.
For a first hand experience of working in the new building, an article by Durlik in 2002 published in Libraries & Culture, provides more details.
 |
| Aerial view Bibliotheque Nationale de France |
Library of Congress
Washington's Library of Congress was established in 1800 and was initially a library for the use of government (Congress) only. Through the purchases of private libraries, most notably, retired president Thomas Jefferson, the library began the process of building up the collection and in this process changed the original philosophy of the library for the sole use of Congress. Jefferson believed that all subjects were important and in the following years, many librarians of the Library of Congress regarded it as a national institution with its role as more than just to serve the needs of Congress.
As a result of this philosophical shift, the library began actively seeking out material to enhance the collection which continued until of course the issue of storage space arose. The Library of Congress has grown to now occupy three buildings; the Jefferson Building (1897), the Adams Building (1939) and the James Madison Memorial Building (1981). The Packard Campus for audio visual conservation is the most recent off site, addition in 2007.
 |
| The Jefferson Building, Library of Congress |
The task of housing, maintaining, conserving and preserving 147 million items requires almost 4,000 staff and is carried out with an annual budget of US $750 million as at 2011.
The growth of the collection is relentless with materials coming to the library through acquisitions including agreements and exchange arrangements existing with over fifteen thousand foreign governments and research institutions. In 2006, over 31,000 items would arrive daily at LC. In contrast to the other national libraries examined here, the LC does not hold a copy of every book published in the United States. It is not a library of legal deposit except for the years 1870 - 1909. But despite this, the collection is enormous.
This video shows the extent of the digital collection at the LC and talks about the ongoing process of digitisation.
U.S. Library of Congress' Digital Collection; One of World's Largest
Recently, in 2009, the Library of Congress National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation program announced a "one year pilot program to test the use of cloud technologies to enable perpetual access to digital content". This type of cloud storage appears to be one way in which libraries may be able to cope with the storage issues associated with the digitisation of their collections.
National Library of Russia (NLR)
The National Library of Russia in St. Petersberg was founded in 1795 by Catherine the Great and was to be "the first building in Russia specially intended to house a library". Catherine's vision was for a national library to become a "symbol of the might of the Russian state". The neoclassical style building housed the NLR and several additions were made through the next century including the Gothic Hall in 1857.
 |
| National Library of Russia, St Petersberg |
The collection developed through various means. Private collections were transported from Poland and France as well as items from the Hermitage library in St Petersberg. The 1800s saw the purchase and donation of manuscripts from the former Russian official at the embassy in Paris who, during the French Revolution, saved papers from the archives in the Bastille and secured manuscripts from French monasteries dating back to the fifth century.
In 1805, a department was created just for special manuscripts and following this, many individual collectors donated their collection to the library. By 1810, funds were allocated from the State treasury.
In 1948, a building on Fontanka Embankment was assigned to the library which now holds newspapers, music and sound and junior collections. A modern building was added on Moskovsky Prospekt in the 1980s for the extensive collection of printed books.
 |
| New building for the National Library of Russia on Moskovsky Prospekt |
Russian State Library
The other great library in Russia is the Russian State Library (RSL) in Moscow also known as V. I. Lenin State Library of USSR between 1925 and 1992 or now known as Leninka.
Its origins date to 1862 when the city of Moscow acquired the library collection of the Rumyantsev museum donated to the people by count Rumyantsev and transferred from St Petersberg and housed in Pashkov House, a classicist building constructed in 1786.
 |
| Pashkov House |
The museum with its library collection grew through donations, purchases and "deposits from confiscated libraries". When the lack of space and funds became a problem it was decided to dissolve the Rumyantsev and the museum items were dispersed among other galleries and museums while the library collection and manuscripts were reorganised to form the Lenin Library. Additional buildings were constructed in the 1930s, a 250 seat reading hall completed in 1945 and even more buildings in the 1960s. In 1968, the library was again at capacity and a new depository for newspaper storage, low demand books and scientific works was constructed offsite in Khimki, north west of Moscow in 1975.
The Russian State Library is involved in many projects as it continuously adds to its digital stock which in 2009 stood at four hundred thousand documents. Another major project begun in 2003 is the Digital Dissertations Library (DDL) which by 2011 had 650,000 full texts of dissertations.
In conclusion, these five national libraries developed in different ways through varying political and historical periods. They have met challenges, survived and emerged today to become world renowned institutions which continue to embrace the new library technologies and tools of the twenty first century.
Bibliography
Krasner-Khait, B 2001, Survivor: The history of the library, History Magazine, viewed 20 September 2011,
<http://www.history-magazine.com/libraries.html>
Lerner, F 2009, The story of libraries, Continuum, New York.
History of the British Library, British Library, viewed 13 October 2011,
<http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/quickinfo/facts/history/index.html>
'British Library' [image], viewed 13 October 2011,
<http://www.bl.uk/images/popup/17b.jpg>
Lennon, D 1998 'New library debate'
'Interior of the en:British Library' [image] by A Dunn 2004, viewed 13 October 2011,
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BritishLibraryInterior02.jpg>
'Reading room in the Richelieu Building, Bibliotheque Nationale de France' [image] in Encylopaedia Britannica online, viewed 12 October 2011,
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/64592/Bibliotheque-Nationale-de-France>
Durlik, A 2002 'The bibliotheque nationale de France: my French experience' Libraries & Culture, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 256-268, General OneFile, Gale, viewed 12 October 2011.
Bibliotheque Nationale de France 2011, A view on cities, viewed 12 October 2011,
<http://www.aviewoncities.com/paris/bibliothequenationale.htm>
'library' 2011, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Library Edition, viewed 13 October 2011.
ABC of the collections 2011, National Library of France, viewed 13 October 2011,
<http://www.bnf.fr/en/bnf/presentation_space/a.abc_of_the_collections.html>
'Aerial view Bibliotheque Nationale de France' [image] in L'Internaute.com, viewed 12 October 2011,
<http://www.linternaute.com/hightech/internet/photo/les-hauts-lieux-de-google-earth-du-ciel-en-3d-et-en-photos/bibliotheque-nationale-de-france.shtml>
History 2010, Library of Congress, viewed 23 September 2011,
<http://www.loc.gov/about/history.html>
Library of Congress n.d., National Park Service, viewed 13 October 2011,
<http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc79.htm>
'The Jefferson Building, Library of Congress' [image], in americaslibrary.gov, viewed 25 October 2011,
<http://www.americaslibrary.gov/assets/jb/progress/jb_progress_library_1_e.jpg>
VOAvideo 9 October 2009, U.S. Library of Congress' Digital Collection One of World's Largest, viewed 19 October 2011,
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylFlAQZ0piU>
Rosenberg, D 2009, 'Library of Congress test drives cloud storage', news.cnet.com, CNet news, 14 July 2009,
<http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10286280-62.html.>
'National Library of Russia, St Petersberg' [image] in nlr.ru, viewed 13 October 2011,
<http://www.nlr.ru/eng/>
'New building for National Library of Russia on Moskovsky Prospekt' [image] 2008 in wikipedia.com, viewed 13 October 2011,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:New_building_of_the_National_Library_of_Russia.JPG>
The principal book repository in Russia (1795- 1813) c. 2011, The National Library of Russia, viewed 13 October 2011,
<http://www.nlr.ru/eng/nlr/history/1.htm>
Johnson, ED 1970, History of libraries of the western world, 2nd edn, Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, NJ.
Locations 2011, The National Library of Russia, viewed 13 October 2011,
<http://www.nlr.ru/eng/nlr/location.htm>
National Library of Russia 2011, Wikipedia, viewed 13 October 2011,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Library_of_Russia>
Division of International Activities 2011, The National Library of Russia, viewed 14 October 2011,
<http://www.nlr.ru/eng/md/smd/>
National Library of Russia, Moskovsky Prospekt, St Petersberg [image], viewed 25 October 2011,
<http://petersburgcity.com/city/photos/history/library/>
Russian State Library 2011, Wikipedia, viewed 14 October 2011,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_State_Library>
'Pashkov House' [image] in spirit-of-moscow.com, viewed 14 October 2011,
<http://spirit-of-moscow.com/gallery/Buildings/Pashkov%27s%20House/index.html>
The European Library 2011, RSL History, viewed 14 October 2011,
<http://search.theeuropeanlibrary.org/portal/en/libraryHistory.html?libraryid=34>
Causes and aims of the DDL RSL 2011, Russian State Library, viewed 19 October 2011,
<http://diss.rsl.ru/?menu=aboutus/48/&lang=en>
No comments:
Post a Comment