New Delhi - Ambassade (En)

Libraries

The Royal Library in The Hague, founded in 1798, is the National Library of The Netherlands. It is an academic library containing over three million volumes. The Dutch Publications Depot is an important part of the library, which endeavours to collect at least one specimen of all publications that have been published in the Netherlands. Brinkman's Cumulative Catalogue of Books, the national bibliography, is published on the basis of the records available in this depot. Other academic libraries form part of universities. The most famous is the library of the university of Leiden, which has many unique collections of ancient publications and manuscripts. For people of Indian origin, its collection of oriental manuscripts started by the Dutch Ambassador to Contantinople in the 17th century, may be of particular interest.

Public libraries are very popular especially among young people: around 60% of the Dutch under the age of 17 are members. Membership is free up to the age of 16. Public libraries own an estimated total of more than 41.5 million books. Most municipalities of more than 30,000 residents have their own public library, totalling some 1,200 libraries. Smaller municipalities are largely served by mobile libraries, of which there are approximately 100 stopping at some 2,000 locations. Together, the public libraries and mobile libraries serve 4.3 million registered readers. Public libraries are mainly funded by the municipal and provincial authorities. Authors and publishers receive lending right fees. Apart from books, public libraries also stock compact discs, films and videos. For blind and partially sighted people there are recorded and braille books. Special

Related websites:

Academic libaries

Other websites