National Library of the Netherlands

The Royal Library of the Netherlands, in Dutch: Koninklijke Bibliotheek (abbreviation: KB ), the National Library of the Netherlands, based in The Hague.

History

The Royal Library of the Netherlands was founded in 1798 with the private collection of the exiled governor William V and received in 1806 by King Louis Bonaparte the name Koninklijke Bibliotheek. In 1982, she became the National Library of the Netherlands. Since 1993, the library is an independent administrative authority, which is funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

Tasks

The KB has to make as National Library the task of preserving the national printed and handwritten traditional cultural heritage of the country and everyone has access to knowledge and culture of the Netherlands. Acts together with the Leiden University Library, the library as a knowledge center of the country and provides the scientific information on research and studying. The existence of the KB, the humanities play a central role, the focus is on Dutch history, language and culture.

All Dutch publications are included in the inventory. Unlike other national libraries, the KB acts as a depository library; Publisher may determine whether they give their work to the KB so themselves. In other countries, the tax is often mandatory.

The collection includes the KB 3.5 million plants, of which 2.5 million books. There are subscribed to about 15,000 journals. The annual budget is 36 million euros (as of 2006). An annual pass for the library costs 15 euros. The library catalog is on the Internet freely accessible and retrievable via the KVK.

The KB has the largest collection of chess literature in Europe, which comprises about 40,000 volumes.