Libraries around the World

In French, a nod to the country’s not so distant formation, the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is referred to as Bibliotheque et Archives Canada. The fourth largest library in the world, LAC falls under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Steven Guilbeault. The National Archives of Canada was originally founded under the name Public Archives of Canada in 1912 while the National Library of Canada was not founded until 1953. In 2004, the two entities were combined to form the Library and Archives Canada. Since its inception LAC has inadvertently reported to the Canadian Parliament through the current Minister of Canadian History.   The Library and Archives Canada holds adamant to the principle that their collection in its entirety, assembled over the course of 140 years, “is the shared documentary heritage of all Canadians and spans the entire history of [our] country.” Included in the collection, prospective visitors can expect to find the following: an estim...

   Written by Morgan Daugherty.  When visiting the National Library of New Zealand, you’ll quickly realize that the majority of their collections and exhibits are built with the Maori people in mind. The indigenous people of the country, the Maori people are apart of the greater Polynesian community and - like many other indigenous populations - were largely affected by British colonization of their home country. While there are collections in the library dedicated to British and French literature, as well as personal collections of famous Europeans who immigrated to the islands, most of the library seems intact to preserve and pass on the traditions of their original peoples.  Many documents important to the country’s history - including the Maori tribes' declaration of Independence, the original treaty signed by British colonizers and Maori leaders, etc - are available to view in the library in both Maori and English, offering visitor insights to the struggles of t...

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina : A glimpse into Egypt’s Heritage and Culture  Covered by: Ryan Lamberts Conceived in 1974 by an Alexandrian University professor in cooperation and funding from the Egyptian government and international donors, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina was built as a revivalist library to honor the original Library of Alexandria. Construction began in 1989 on this expensive 220 million dollar project and was completed in 2001. Made of Aswan granite and covered with over 120 different scripts on its granite face, this library celebrates its creation thanks to Egypt and countries around the world. In its interior it contains 11-floors: one large reading room, and many places of culture that speak to Egypt’s past heritage preserved in time. From the outside to the interior, it is one of the special treasures of Egypt. Today, the library houses six specialized libraries for the arts and multimedia; children, young people, the blind and the visually-impaired, an Exchang...

 The Brazilian National Library is the largest library in South America. This is proportional to the size of the country. Brazil is the largest country in South America by space as well as by population. Serving a larger population spread out over a larger piece of land makes for a larger national library. This massive information center provides a multitude of both online and in-person services including heritage reproduction, exchange between libraries, long-distance research, news, events, exhibitions, and more. These services fall under different departments, but one theme that remains constant through each service and department is the preservation of culture and heritage. The robust online component of the Brazilian National Library, BNDigital, "has a main objective to preserve the cultural memory and provide wide access to the information contained in its heritage." The organization takes this very seriously as shown by the extensive scanning and digitizing initiative....

     The National Library of Russia keeps and maintains a collection of many materials pertaining to the culture and heritage of the nation. The library’s Literary Landmarks of the NLR digital collection contains six sub-collections: European Books, Printed Music , Publications on National Literature, Prints, and Russian Books . 17 th and 18 th century books and book fragments make up the rare books collection while the Rossica collection contains foreign works published in West European languages pertaining to Russia and European language translations of Russian writers. The maps collection contains foreign and Russian maps and atlases of the cities and provinces of Russia, Siberia, the Far East, Alaska, and various cartographic materials. Some of the collection dates as far back as the 16 th century. The Russian Advance-guard collection showcases illustrated books containing the experimental works of Russian Advance-guard poets and artists from the first third of th...

The National Library of Turkey was founded in 1946, as a part of the modernization and secularization schemes of the early Republican government. Adnan Ötüken was appointed the first director of the library and oversaw the foundation and expansion of the library. He was chosen, in part because of his experience in Germany where he was educated in Library Science and worked with western librarians.  Adnan Ötüken was an accomplished librarian and is regarded as the founder of the Turkish library system. He served as the director of the National library until 165, lectured at Ankara University and hosted a weekly radio show on Ankara Radio called Kitap Saati (Book Hour). Ötüken also established the Turkish Librarian’s Association.  The National Library of Turkey grew quickly in the early years of its foundation. The early collection contained 8000 books, which prompted the creation of the national Library Charity in order to help the library expand its collection and to find stor...

Why visit the 7 wonders of the world with 6 national libraries at your disposal? There is no better destination for discovering the history and culture of a country than some of the sites listed here. Whatever your interests are there is surely a library on this list with material to satisfy your curiosities. The library has something for everyone; whether you are looking for reading materials, old-fashioned cooking wisdom (or maybe even that coveted recipe!), a map possibly leading to treasure: the library and archives have it all! Interested in riding a camel through the deserts of Egypt without actually having to ride the camel? Take a visit to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina – plan for hours of perusal as you discover both the lost world of Egypt and its modern-day counterpart. Interested in learning how to revitalize that old photograph you just found of your great-great-grandmother? Look no further than the National Library of New Zealand! Perhaps you’re looking to escape your tropic...