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Top 10 Biggest Libraries

Libraries had been an integral part of human civilization from many hundred years. That time there was no other way to store the information. So it was secured in the hand written papers. The collection of such meaningful papers formed a book. The information on these books then needed to be stored in a common place for the next generation to use. The word library is derived from the French word “librarie” that means book. There is also a Latin word “liber” that also means book. In today’s world, there are lots of devices present that can contain the information of hundreds of book. Still the importance of libraries has not decreases a bit. The word library has now become a synonym for the huge collection of something. It is clear from the words like digital library and CD library. Here is a list of top 10 libraries of world. The size is determined by the total number of books contained in library.

10.  Institute for Scientific Information Russian Academy of Sciences

The library is present in Lenninsky Prospekt14, Moscow. It was formed in order to help the Russian scholars for their research work. The library offered free access for the scholars. Currently the library is maintained by the Russian Federation.  Presently, like all other common libraries, a person has to fill application form and get a library card in order to get access to the books present in libraries. The numeric count of books in this library is about 13500000. It includes biology, nuclear science and other variety of topics.

9. New York Public Library

This library is also the second biggest library in the United States. The library is strictly systematic for the arrangements of books and there is a lot of stuff to explore. There are approximately 15 million items inside. The library is also not a government operated one, but it’s a private library which is opened for the common public.

8. Harvard University Library

The objective of establishment of this library was also to support the students who are doing some research work for their studies. There are a variety of services available in this library and appropriate permissions to access each of the available services. The library was formed in 1638. Its current size is approximately 16 million books.

7. Russian State Library

The construction of this library began in the 1784, but it was open for public in 1786. The two years were given for the library to be built. It’s considered as the largest library of Russia. The library has a massive capacity of more than 17 million books. A huge area is also covered by this library so as to acquire such a huge amount of books.

6. The Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Another one from Russia. It was founded in the 1714 and currently, it has a capacity of about 20 million books. Its purpose was also to provide support for the scholars and other people of the country. In February 15^th of 1988, it suffered a tragic accident of fire that damaged its most of the parts. Yet it was possible to retrieve some of the important books from it.

5. The British Library

The British Library is a continuously growing library as it is collecting books regularly in a decent manner. The simple rule used by them is that whenever a new book is published in the UK, then they have to get a copy of that book. In this way, they are acquiring new books daily and in an updated manner. Their total books count today is about 23.5 million books, and it is continuously increasing each day.

4. Deutsche Bibliotheca

Founded in the 1912, this library is considered as the national library of Germany. Unlike other big libraries whose prime objective was to support people and scholars of country, the aim of this library was to have a huge collection of the German books. The library however provides books of other languages too; still their primary focus is to provide German books. The library has about 24.5 million books in its stock. The readers need to have a library card and it provides special reading rooms for the reading. The books cannot be taken home.

3. National Library Canada

Majority of the books in this library are written and published in the library’s own country, Canada. The library is also a big source of tourist attraction. It includes books of almost all kind of information. From school books to music books, there is something for everyone here. The library is also open for everyone. The counting of the total number of books in library has been estimated to be more than 26 million books.

2. National Library of China

The library was established in 1909. The purpose of establishing this library was to collect and preserve the Chinese books and literature for the use of coming generations. The library is located in Beijing, with the capacity of nearly 29 million books. The library is considered as the largest library in Asia. China also had opened a site for the Chinese citizens.

1. Library of Congress

The library of congress holds the award of largest library of world. It was built in 188 at the Washington D.C. in America. The total number of books in this library has been estimated to be about 33 million, and close to 3500 staffs are there to handle all the work in library.