The largest libraries in the world: description, history and interesting facts. The largest library in the world The largest library in the world
Among the available libraries, one can single out those that are most famous all over the world, as well as find out which of them are the most extraordinary and beautiful. There is also the largest library among electronic ones.
The largest electronic library
More and more we hear about digital libraries. They have firmly entered our lives, and this is understandable, because such libraries are incredibly convenient. Thanks to search engines, you can read almost any work just from the screen. The spread of electronic technologies has directly affected the accessibility of digital libraries. They help preserve our cultural and scientific heritage. In addition, they greatly facilitate training, help in work.The Google Books is deservedly recognized as the largest electronic library. It was created as a Google project. More than one hundred and thirty million books have been digitized, all of which have been translated into four hundred and eighty languages. These figures indicate that twenty percent of all the books in the world have already been digitized, and all of them are in this electronic library.
Google's intention is to keep working on digitization until every book in the world has an electronic version. In America and Europe, translation into electronic format is carried out without obtaining permission from the authors, so everyone's right to receive information is realized.
The most famous libraries
Despite the fact that digital libraries are very popular, the old, ordinary libraries are not losing ground. There is still a need for them. The Russian National Library is recognized as one of the most famous and largest. It is located in St. Petersburg and was among the first public libraries to appear in Europe. Among the books there are many editions in foreign languages. The library holds over thirty-three million books. Every year it is visited by at least one and a half million people. 
The Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences is another of the most famous libraries. During its organization during the reign of Peter I, it had only two thousand units of publications in different languages. Today it is a repository of a universal profile, where there are more than twenty and a half million copies of books.
Known to all, the US Library of Congress appeared in the 1800th year in the American capital. Fourteen years later, it burned down along with the books. In 1865, the library was already the fourth in America, and it lagged far behind most of the famous libraries in the world. Now the Library of Congress is located in three buildings, which are interconnected underground passages, it has one hundred and forty-four million units of storage. The library's collection consists of more than thirty-two million books.
It is impossible not to mention the British Museum Library, because it has always been among the most famous libraries in the world. On its basis, the National Library appeared by merging several rather big British libraries. This happened in 1973. British National Library - more than one hundred and fifty million items. The volume of annual replenishment is about three million publications.
The Harvard University Library - consisting of more than a hundred libraries of colleges, schools, museums and so on, is recognized as the largest academic library. Among the well-known and the German National Library of Economics, and the National Library of China, which stores more than twenty-six million books. Among them come across very rare copies, atlases, manuscripts. There are also ancient inscriptions on tortoise shells and inscriptions on animal bones.
There are libraries that are quite small in size, but well-known. These are the Bristol Central Library, the most beautiful Stockholm Public Library, the Royal Library of Copenhagen and, of course, the Packham Library.
The most beautiful libraries
There are very special libraries. They rightfully bear the title of sights of cities, are works of art. I want to go there not only for the sake of reading, but also in order to admire them. 
This is the Trinity College Library (University of Dublin). The oldest library in Switzerland and the most important among the existing monastic libraries in the world stands out for its beauty - this is the Library of the monastery of St. Gall. The Geisel Library is strikingly different with its unusual building design.
The most remarkable building in the city of Stockholm is the round building of the public library. Its construction was completed in 1928. It was there that open shelves were adopted for the first time in Sweden.
Amazing and at the same time beautiful is the library in Alexandria, which was built on the site where the Library of Alexandria, which died in ancient times, once stood.
The largest book library in the world
Today, the Library of Congress is considered the largest library in the world. Founded in Washington back in 1800 with only seven hundred and forty books, today it has become the place where the largest number of copies is located, namely, more than one hundred and forty-four million. 
This library holds the largest foreign collection of books in Russian. The annual replenishment of the Library of Congress collection is equal to several million items.
By the way, it is in libraries that the most expensive books are stored. According to the site, the price of some publications can reach up to 22.6 million dollars.
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23.03.2013
Large Libraries. Library comes from the French word Librarie and the Latin word Liber which means books. For many centuries before the advent of modern gadgets, people received various information of interest from libraries. Now information can be obtained in sufficient volume from various sources including the Internet, libraries have become less popular, but true connoisseurs of books and useful, historical information are still more likely to go to the library than read from the monitor. Large major libraries they preserve simply a huge number of books, both modern and very ancient. it top 10 rating the biggest libraries in the world, which keep within their walls a huge number of books and historical documents.
10. Library of the Institute of Scientific Information of the Russian Academy of Sciences
(Moscow, 14.2 million items)
It has the status of a federal library. Designed for library and information and reference and bibliographic services for scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences, other scientific institutions, teachers high school, graduate students and graduate students. The repository contains materials on various scientific disciplines, the largest collection of books in Slavic languages, collections of documents of the League of Nations, etc. international organizations, parliamentary reports of the USA, England, Italy and other countries. Conducts an international book exchange with 874 partners in 69 countries.
9. Harvard University Library
(Cambridge, 16 million items)
Created in 1638. The main goal is to support scientific research and organization of student learning. The largest academic library in the United States. In addition to the central book collection, it has separate branches: a library of rare books and manuscripts, a medical library, and a Chinese-Japanese library. It finances multiple scientific projects, mainly for teachers and students of the university.
8. German National Library
(Frankfurt am Main, Leipzig, Berlin, over 25 million items)
This a big library founded in 1912 by the Kingdom of Saxony, Leipzig as the venue for the annual book fair, and an association of German booksellers. The main task of this institution is the collection, archiving and storage of all available materials on German from around the world. Plays an important role in the development of international library standards. The annual budget is 42.2 million euros. The highest technologies of storage of printed materials are applied. It features a wide variety of collection items. The Berlin branch specializes in collecting music. The reading rooms are open to the public.
7. Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences
(St. Petersburg, over 26 million items)
Founded by decree of Peter I in 1714. The first public public library in Russia. The fund was based on the collections of the Kremlin Tsar's Library in Moscow, the personal collections of Peter I, the libraries of the Dukes of Holstein and Courland, and gifts from the Tsar's associates. She was and is the initiator of various scientific expeditions. Here are stored such valuable manuscripts as the Ipatiev and Radziwill chronicles. Huge damage to the library was caused by a fire in 1988. More than 400 thousand books were lost. In the first 10 years after the fire, only about 900 volumes were restored.
6. National Library and Archives of Canada
(Ottawa, over 26 million items)
major library created by the Parliament of Canada in 2004. We accept for storage, first of all, materials related to history, culture, social and political life countries. In addition to traditional materials, it contains indigenous magazines, scrapbooks, architectural sketches, comic book magazines, trade catalogs. Known for her collection of musical scores and sound recordings. The Library Director holds the rank of Deputy Minister and holds the title of Librarian and Archivist of Canada. The library building is recognized as a historical heritage.
5. National Library of China
(Beijing, over 27.8 million items)
Founded by the Qing Dynasty in 1909. It is the main library of the People's Republic of China and the largest library in Asia. It is located in three buildings with a total area of 250 thousand sq.m. Geographically divided into "North part of the National Library of China" and "South part of the National Library of China". It houses the largest number of Chinese books in the world and the largest number of foreign publications in the country.
4. Russian State Library
(Moscow, over 44 million items)
Year of foundation - 1862. largest public library countries. It is the place of storage of obligatory copies of printed materials. Headquarters of the Library Assembly of Eurasia. In addition to the general fund, it has many specialized collections. Unique specimens: the Arkhangelsk Gospel, the Gospel of Khitrovo, editions of the Slavic first printers, collections of incunabula and paleotypes, the first editions of Russian classics. The annual budget is 1.64 million rubles. It is open to visitors, including foreign citizens.
3. New York Public Library
(New York, 53 million items)
The large library was founded in 1895. Private non-profit organization with a public mission. Attracts both private and public funding. It has branches in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island. Central Fund - Library of the Humanities and social sciences. In addition, it includes the Library of Science, Industry and Business, the Library of the Performing Arts, the Center for African American Studies and Culture, the Library of People with handicapped and others. It serves about 18 million visitors annually.
2. British Library
(London, 150 million items)
Created by the British Parliament in 1972. The rich collection of the library is constantly growing, as it is automatically replenished with each copy of printed matter published in the country. In terms of the number of storage units, it is second only to the US Library of Congress. It has such unique copies as: Buddhist manuscripts from Dunhuang, the Lindisfar Gospel, the only manuscript of the Beowulf epic in the world, the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci, the Codex Sinaiticus, the first printed map of the New World and many others. Serves up to 16 thousand people a day.
1. Library of Congress
(Washington, over 155 million items)
Holds rank the largest library peace. This scientific Library designed for government and scientific organizations, research centers, private firms, industrial companies, schools. Founded April 24, 1800 by US President John Adams. Initially, only the president, vice president, members of the US Senate and the House of Representatives (Congress) could access the funds, hence the name of the library. Funds are universal. The materials on law, history, politics, natural and technical sciences and reference literature are presented most fully. Contains over 30 million books and other printed materials in over 470 languages, 58 million manuscripts, 4.8 million maps, 12 million photographs. James Billington has been the library director since 1987. Currently, access to the vaults has been expanded, but still has serious limitations.
However, in addition to large libraries and very .
The US Library of Congress is the largest in the world. Based in Washington, D.C., it holds over 155 million books in 470 languages. In addition, manuscripts, audio recordings and films are stored here. And she is one of the most beautiful. It contains literature of a different nature, ranging from school and research, ending with literature for government agencies.
Here you can find books in 470 languages, this is the largest library in the world. In the new year, for sure, many will set themselves the goal of reading more).
In this library, you need to live several lives to read at least half of the books.
The library has 18 reading rooms, they are able to receive almost 1,500 people a day. And if we talk about the numbers in general, then about 1.7 million readers visit the library every year, and 3,600 employees work here.
The library was founded on April 24, 1800, just at the time when Washington became the capital of the United States. Then a rather large amount was allocated for the creation of the first fund: 5 thousand dollars. They bought more than 700 books that were intended for members of Congress. They then gave the name to the library.
Less than 15 years later, the library was destroyed during the Anglo-American War. Then they completely burned almost the entire fund, including the most valuable books. But after the end of the war, former President Thomas Jefferson sold his collection for $24,000. It contained more than 6,000 unique books that he had been collecting for half a century. Thus began the revival of the library. By the way, the main building was named after him.
However, the troubles did not end there: in 1851, another severe fire broke out in the library, so it had to be restored again.
In the 20th century, the Library of Congress was supplemented by two branch buildings, one of which bears the name of its founder and second president, John Adams, and the second, the fourth US president, James Madison. The buildings are interconnected by passages.
The library collections are actually unique, at least because there are more than 5.5 thousand old books - incunabula, which were published in the first centuries after the invention of printing. In addition, there are huge collections of literature in other languages.
Thus, the Library of Congress has the largest collection of Russian literature outside of Russia. In 1907, the management bought 81 thousand copies of books and magazines from the Krasnoyarsk bibliophile and merchant G.V. Yudin. Yudin was worried that with the beginning of the revolution and unrest in the country, his library would be lost, so he was forced to sell it. Nicholas II, due to lack of funds, refused to buy him. Since then, the replenishment of the collection of Russian literature began.
All collections have been digitized for several years, but this is a very laborious process. If the entire fund is converted into electronic form, then approximately 20 terabytes of storage will be required.
Back in the 19th century, the government passed a law that any book published in the United States must be transferred to the library of Congress in at least one copy. Every day, the library is replenished by about 15 thousand items, including those transferred. Thus, the annual increase in literary copies here is about 3 million.
Today, the collection is so huge that if you line up all the racks in one row, their length will be almost 1.5 thousand kilometers. Even a lifetime is not enough to read at least a third of these books.
In addition to books, there are 68 million manuscripts, 5 million maps (the largest collection of maps in the world), more than 3.4 million records and more than 13.5 million photographs. And, of course, comics, where would the United States be without them. There are more than 100 thousand of them, this is the largest collection in the country and, perhaps, in the world.
Interesting facts about the largest library in the world
Fact number 1. The Library of Congress has the largest collection of 15th-century books in the Western Hemisphere. In addition, there is one of three known copies of the Gutenberg Bible. It was from her that the history of printing began in the 1450s.
Fact number 2. The Library of Congress has had a special collection of books for the blind since 1931.
Fact number 3. In addition to comics and maps, there is also the world's largest collection of telephone directories.
Fact number 4. Since 2006, the library has been collecting every public tweet and archiving it.
Fact number 5. The library spends about $100,000 annually on light bulbs.
Fact number 6. Every day, except Sundays, the library offers free tours lasting about 45 minutes.
As for the top three, the second place is occupied by the British Library in London, whose collection came off not much: 150 million copies. The New York Public Library is third with 53 million items. By the way, it is visited annually by a record number of people - 18 million readers. Concerning Russian libraries, then in 5th and 6th place are the Russian state library Moscow and the Russian National Library of St. Petersburg with 45 and 37 million copies, respectively.
But last year there were reports that the world's largest library had opened in China. With the above data, we have debunked this myth and now let's talk about one of the amazing and beautiful libraries in the world.
In early October 2017, the Binhai Library opened in the Chinese city of Tianjin. The futuristic building was designed by the Dutch architectural firm MVRDV. In the central hall of the library there is a white ball, above it is a dome, and numerous bookshelves smoothly into the ceiling. The library has become a very popular place with Tianjin residents, and photos of the hall have gone viral on Chinese social media.
The atrium of the library is deliberately designed so that the huge luminous sphere is clearly visible through the glazed facade of the building. An auditorium was placed inside the sphere, and around it was an impressive cascade of bookshelves.
It is the wavy bookshelves that have become the main element of the library's interior space. With the help of them, the architecture of the building was formed: stairs, seating, multi-level ceilings and even blinds on the facade.
This 5-story building was designed by the Dutch design firm MVRDV, together with the Tianjin Institute of Urban Development and Design. The area of the library, which has 1.2 million books, is 34,000 square meters.
Reading rooms and recreation areas are located on the first and second floors, computer classes, conference rooms and offices are located on the upper levels. Inside the glass futuristic sphere, which stands in the center of the library, is the classroom.
The building of the library was completed in three years. Now most of the upper shelves are not filled with printed publications; instead, special plates with images of books are fixed on the surface. The real books are stored in other halls of the building.
A month after the opening of the library, photographs appeared in photobanks, which show that there are no books on the shelves in the beautiful hall - they are drawn.
As deputy director of the library Xiufeng Liu said, the city authorities did not allow the books to be exhibited in the central hall, they are located in other rooms. “There is a very big difference between photographs and reality,” said one of the library visitors.
According to Liu, the few books seen in the photographs were temporary. The library should remove them soon.
The Tianjin Binhai Library was built in accordance with China Green Star's Energy Energy Label and has achieved two-star status.
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Below is a list of the ten largest libraries in the world. The rating was compiled based on the number of documents stored in them.
The National Library of China is the largest library in Asia, located in the capital of China, Beijing. It is housed in three buildings with a total area of 250,000 square meters. It was founded on September 9, 1909 by the government of the Qing Dynasty. With collection over 33.78 million items The National Library of China contains the largest collections of Chinese literature and historical documents in the world. Among them, the most valuable are books from the Song and Yuan dynasties, Buddhist manuscripts from Dunhuang, the huge Yongle Dadian encyclopedia, and a 35,000-strong collection of tortoise shells and bones of various animals, on which texts are applied. More than 7 thousand people visit the library every day.
The Royal Danish Library is the largest library in Northern Europe, located in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1648 by King Frederick III and opened to the public in 1793. Contains about 35.1 million storage units, including 6.4 million books and magazines, 19.9 million engravings and photographs, 7.8 million brochures and other historical materials. It contains copies of all the works published in Denmark since the 17th century, including the first Danish book printed in 1482.
The National Diet Library is the central public library of Japan, located in Tokyo. It was founded in 1948 and was originally intended for members of the Japanese Diet. It collects and stores all the publications ever published in the country. Library Archives Count (2008) 34 million of which 9 million books (6.5 million in Japanese and 2.5 million in foreign language), 12 million periodicals (including 3.9 million newspapers), 200 thousand CDs, 420 thousand maps and others.
The Russian National Library is the oldest public library in Eastern Europe. It was founded in 1795 by Catherine II and opened to the public on January 3, 1814. Located in St. Petersburg. As of 2012, the library contains 36,500,000 copies, of which 28 million are in Russian. Of the most valuable: handwritten books of the Ostromir Gospel, Izbornik, Laurentian Chronicle and other rare publications.
The National Library of France is one of the oldest and largest libraries in the world. Located in Paris. It was founded by Charles V in 1368, enlarged by King Louis XIV and opened to the public in 1692. Its funds contain about 40 million documents they include 12 million books, about 115,000 manuscripts and other items. The total length of the library shelves reaches 395 km. It employs about 2700 employees.
The Russian State Library is the largest library in the country and one of the largest in the world. It was founded on July 1, 1862. Located in Moscow. Has more than 275 km of shelves with more than 43 million storage units, including 17 million books, 13 million magazines, 350 thousand musical scores and sound recordings, 150 thousand maps and other documents.
The New York Public Library is an American library that houses one of the finest collections of books in the world. It was opened in 1895 and includes 87 branches in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island. The New York Public Library collection includes 51.3 million storage units, of which more than 20 million are books. It employs about 3100 people.
The Library and Archives of Canada is Canada's federal archival institution, which includes the National Library and the Public Records Office. The department was established in 2004. The headquarters is located in downtown Ottawa. It is kept here for about 54 million documents, including 20 million books, over 24 million photographs, and over a petabyte of digital data.
The Library of Congress is the national library of the United States, located in Washington DC. It was founded on April 24, 1800. Located in three buildings that store over 142 million various kinds documents, including more than 29 million books, 58 million manuscripts, 4.8 million maps and atlases, 12 million photographs, 500 thousand films, etc. Of the most valuable: The Gutenberg Bible, the first book published in the United States - "Massachusetts book of psalms "(1640), the smallest book in the world - Old King Cole, also contains the private libraries of Hitler, Susan Brownella Anthony, Theodore Roosevelt. The total length of the shelves of the Library of Congress is 856 km. It is included in the list of the most beautiful libraries in the world.
The British Library is the national library of Great Britain, the building of which opened in London on July 1, 1973. It is the largest library in the world. Its archives contain 170 million various publications from many countries of the world, in many languages and in various formats, including (as of 2012) 66.3 million patents, 14.3 million books, 8.3 million philatelic materials, 4.5 million maps, 1, 6 million printed music, 1.5 million audio CDs, more than 787,700 serials, 357,986 manuscripts, etc.
Below is a list of the 15 most beautiful libraries in the world according to internet users. Of course, it is the books that make these libraries so special, but many of them are real works of art and landmarks of cities and universities in their own right.
(Total 30 photos)
1. Trinity College Library at the University of Dublin. (Skylark Studio)
2. Kirby Library, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, USA. (LAFAYETTE COLLEGE)
3. Kirby Library, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, USA. (LAFAYETTE COLLEGE)
4. Library of Congress, Washington DC. It is the US National Library and the oldest federal institution in the US (1800). The library is located in three buildings, it is the largest library in the world in terms of the number of shelves and the number of books (22.19 million). (CAROL MCKINNEY HIGHSMITH)
6. Now the Minsk library is located in a new 72-meter building in Minsk. The building has 22 floors and was completed in January 2006. It accommodates 2000 readers and has a conference hall with 500 seats. (GIANCARLO RUSSO)
7. Its main architectural component is shaped like a rhombicuboctahedron. The design of the new building was developed by Mikhail Vinogradov and Viktor Kramarenko. (GIANCARLO RUSSO)
8. Library of the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland. The library was founded by Saint Otmar, founder of the monastery of Saint Gall. It is the oldest library in Switzerland and one of the earliest and most important monastic libraries in the world. (PATRICK HAURI)
9. The library stores 2100 manuscripts dating back to the 8th-15th centuries, 1650 early printed books (printed before 1500) and old printed books. In total, the library has about 160,000 volumes. For example, the Nibelungenlied manuscript is kept here. (Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen)
10. Reading room of the library of Graz University named after Karl and Franz in Austria. (DR. MARCUS GOSSLER)
12. The building is named after Audrey and Theodor Seuss Geisel (known as Dr. Seuss) for their generous contributions to the library and their desire to improve the literacy of the population. (BEN LUNSFORD)
13. Delft Library technical university, South Holland, The Netherlands. Built in 1997, the library was designed by Mecanoo architectural bureau. It is located outside the courtyard of the university. The roof of the library is covered with grass, which serves as a natural insulating material. (NAMIJANO)
14. The structure rises from the ground on one side, so that you can climb the building itself. The building is topped with a steel cone, which gives it a unique shape. (NAMIJANO)
15. The wall opposite the courtyard is made entirely of glass. (CHALMERS LIBRARY)
16. Stockholm Public Library, Sweden. The Stockholm Library is a circular building designed by the Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund. It was prepared in 1918. Construction began in 1924 and completed in 1928. This is one of the most remarkable buildings in Stockholm. It was the first library in Sweden to accept open shelves. (TC4711)
17. Library of Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt. (CARSTEN WHIMSTER)
18. Library of Alexandrina - the main library and cultural center on the Mediterranean coast in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. (CARSTEN WHIMSTER)
19. This is a tribute to the famous Library of Alexandria, lost in antiquity, as well as an attempt to recreate something similar. (CARSTEN WHIMSTER)
20. Reading room of the British Museum in London. The reading room is located in the Great Courtyard of the British Museum. (JON SULLIVAN)
21. In 1997, the library moved to a new building in St. Pancras, London, but the reading room remained in the same place, in the British Museum. (DILIFF)
22. Sofia University Library in Bulgaria. (ANASTAS TARPANOV)
23. Public Library of Seattle, Washington, USA. The 11-story glass and steel building opened in downtown Seattle on May 23, 2004. (STEVEN PAVLOV)
24. The library, covering an area of 34,000 m², holds about 1.45 million books and other materials, has underground parking for 143 cars, as well as 400 computers. In the first year, more than 2 million people visited the library. (REX SORGATZ)
25. Joanin Library of the University of Coimbra in Portugal. (WORDMAN1)
26. The Joanina Library is located in the University of Coimbra, built in the 18th century during the reign of the Portuguese King João V (the library is named after him). (ABOUTCENTRO)
