National Library of Sweden

The National Library of Sweden is a very big library.

It keeps many books, posters, and pictures. It also saves music and films.

Long ago, kings kept many books in a palace. A big fire once hurt the collection. Many books were lost in the flames.

Now, the library is in a new building. It sits in a park. The library has many items underground.

It also keeps things on computers. It saves websites and digital books. This helps people learn.

The library is a special place for Sweden.

The National Library of Sweden is a very big library. It is also called the Royal Library. It keeps over 18 million items. These include books, posters, and newspapers. It also has 10 million hours of recorded media.

Long ago, kings started the collection. They kept books in a palace called Tre Kronor. In 1697, a big fire hit the palace. Many books were lost in the flames. The books were moved to different homes for a while. Later, they moved to a new palace. In 1877, the library moved to its current home in a park.

Today, the library has many jobs. It helps all libraries in Sweden work together. It also uses a system called LIBRIS. This system lets people find titles in many libraries. The library also saves digital things. It keeps websites and e-books. It even saves parts of the web. This helps people study the past and the present.

The National Library of Sweden is a very important place for history. It is also called the Royal Library. This library acts as a giant memory for the country. It collects almost everything printed in Sweden. It also keeps items made in Sweden that were published in other lands. These special items are called suecana. The library holds more than 18 million different objects. These include books, posters, pictures, and old newspapers.

There are many ways the library grows its collection. One way is through a rule called legal deposit. This rule says publishers must send copies of their work to the library. This includes books, music, and films. In 2013, a new rule started for digital things. Now, companies must also give digital content to the library. The library also keeps many digital items like e-books and websites. It even saves parts of the web through a project called kulturarw3.

Long ago, the library began with the kings of Sweden. In the 1500s, King Gustav Vasa collected many books and maps. Later kings like Eric XIV and Johan III added more to the collection. These treasures were kept in a palace named Tre Kronor. During wars, the library even grew by taking books from other places. One very famous book, the Codex Gigas, came to Stockholm this way. In 1661, a new law required all printers to send books to the library. This was meant to help the state watch what was being printed.

History was not always easy for the library. In 1697, a huge fire hit the Tre Kronor Palace. Many books were lost in the flames. Over 17,000 volumes and 1,000 manuscripts burned up. The surviving books had to live in different noble houses for many years. Finally, the library moved to its current home in Humlegården in 1877. The building was designed by Gustaf Dahl and made of cast iron. It has two large underground rooms built into the bedrock. These rooms hold most of the huge collection today.

Today, the library helps all libraries in Sweden work together. It runs a system called LIBRIS that people can use on the internet. This system helps people find over five million titles. The library also helps researchers by managing digital databases. It even helps assign special numbers to books called ISBNs. By saving everything from old paper to new websites, the library keeps the past alive. It makes sure that the stories of Sweden are never forgotten.

The National Library of Sweden, known as the Royal Library (KB), is the primary institution for preserving Sweden's cultural heritage. It serves as a massive repository for all domestic printed and audio-visual materials produced in the Swedish language. The library also collects "suecana," which are works about Sweden or by Swedish authors published in other countries. Beyond its national duties, it functions as a major humanities research library with extensive collections in many foreign languages.

To ensure its collections grow, the library relies on a mechanism called legal deposit. Under the Swedish Legal Deposit Act, publishers of printed materials must send one copy of every object to the National Library and six other research libraries. This requirement extends to publishers of music, film, radio, and television. In 2012, a new law for electronic material was passed. Starting in 2013, publishing companies and public authorities must also deliver digitally published content to the library. This allows the institution to preserve e-books, e-journals, and entire websites.

The library's collections are vast and diverse in format. Currently, the institution holds more than 18 million objects. These include books, posters, pictures, manuscripts, and newspapers. The audio-visual collection is equally large, containing more than 10 million hours of recorded material. Since the mid-1990s, the library has also systematically collected electronic storage media like floppy disks and CD-ROMs. This constant expansion ensures that both physical and digital history are protected for future generations.

The history of the library traces back to the 16th century and the reign of King Gustav Vasa. He began collecting books on science, history, theology, and maps. Subsequent monarchs, including Eric XIV, Johan III, and Charles IX, expanded these royal collections. Many of these items were kept in the Tre Kronor palace. Some books were purchased from abroad, while others were taken from monasteries during the Protestant Reformation. The collection also grew through acquisitions during the Thirty Years’ War, including libraries from Würzburg, Olomouc, and Prague. One famous acquisition from this era was the 13th-century Codex Gigas, also known as the "Devil's Bible."

In 1661, the Swedish Privy Council Chancery issued an ordinance that changed the library's purpose. All printers in Sweden were ordered to send two copies of every publication to the state. One copy went to the National Archives, and the other went to the National Library. Interestingly, this law was not originally intended for research. Instead, it was a method for the state to monitor and censor printed content. This era of growth faced a major disaster in 1697 when a fire destroyed the Tre Kronor Palace. The fire consumed 17,286 bound volumes and 1,103 manuscripts. Only 6,700 volumes and 283 manuscripts survived the flames.

After the fire, the surviving books were stored in various noble palaces for several decades. In 1768, the collections finally moved to the new royal palace. The library continued to grow through significant donations, such as the 14,500 works given by Gustav III in 1792. By 1814, the library owned approximately 40,000 works. Because space in the palace was limited, the library moved to its current location in Humlegården in 1877. This building, designed by Gustaf Dahl, was constructed using cast iron. Today, most of the massive collection is stored in two large underground stacks built directly into the bedrock.

Modern operations involve complex coordination across the Swedish library system. The National Library is responsible for supplying information to higher education and research sectors. It manages LIBRIS, a national database system that is free to the public via the internet. LIBRIS contains more than five million titles held across 300 different Swedish libraries. The institution also houses the Swedish ISBN Agency, which assigns books their unique identification numbers using the country prefix 91. Furthermore, the library participates in global efforts as a partner of the World Digital Library.

The library also manages significant digital and specialized projects. In 1997, it began archiving the Swedish part of the World Wide Web through the kulturarw3 project. Since 2010, the library has engaged in the mass digitization of Swedish newspapers, processing over 12 million pages by 2016. In 2009, the Swedish National Archive of Recorded Sound and Moving Images was integrated into the National Library. These digital and specialized efforts connect the institution to modern technology and global information systems, ensuring that even the most ephemeral digital data is preserved.