Turkey 


Directory Information History

The National Library of Turkey, in Ankara, was officially opened in 1948. After spending 34 years in a temporary building, it finally moved into new quarters in 1983. The National Library, which played a leadership role in modern librarianship in Turkey for many years, lost this role during the 1970s and 1980s, largely because it lacked administratlve support, personnel, finance, and space. With its move to new quarters, it renewed its claim to that role. Its major effort in the early 1990s was to automate  its  catalogue  (covering  approximately 1,500,000 volumes) and its two important bibliographical publications, Turkiye Bibliyografyas (Turkish National Bibliography, published since 1939) and Tiirkiye Makaleler Bibliyografyasl (bibliography of articles published in Turkish periodicals, published since 1952).

Collections

The Turkish National Library is one of the youngest national libraries in the world. The works of foundation was laid in a small office in the Ministry of National Education, Directorate of Publications on Apri/ 15, 1946 and a collection of 8000 works were accumulated in a short time. On April 1, 1947 the library was temporarily moved to another building and during this period the collection reached 60,000. The building in the above picture was allocated in order to put the collection into service and the TNL was opened to users on August 16, 1948.

With the enactment of the Establishment Law on March 29, 1950, the TNL assumed a legal identity. Foundation of a Bibliographical Institute working under the TNL was ensured the "Supplementary Law to the Establishment Law of the Turkish Nationa/ LibraryN dated May 18, 1955.

Building

Considering that the first building would not meet the future needs, planning of a new building was started in 1965. The construction work began after a long period of planning during 1965-73, and the building was completed in 1982. The TNL started serving its users in the newbuilding on August5, 1983. 


 
 Sources:

World guide to libraries. New York: Saur, 1998.
World encyclopedia of library and information services. 3rd ed. Chicago: American Library Association, c1993.