Bibliothèque nationale de France
The Bibliothèque nationale de France is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as Richelieu and François-Mitterrand. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including books and manuscripts but also precious objects and artworks, are on display at the BnF Museum on the Richelieu site.
Image: Bibliothèque Mitterrand Mai 2022
Image: La salle ovale du site Richelieu, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris 2022
Reading room, Richelieu site
Façade on rue de Richelieu
A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant works. A national library is that library which has the duty of collecting and preserving the literature of the nation within and outside the country. Thus, national libraries are those libraries whose community is the nation at large. Examples include the British Library in London, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.
British Library in London, the largest in the world
Italian National Central Library in Florence
The Biblioteca Nacional de Chile or The National Library of Chile in Santiago, Chile
The National Library of Brazil is the largest library in Latin America.