Albania

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 Formal Name:        Biblioteka Kombetare, (National Library)
 Name of Librarian: Nermin Basha
 Address:                 Tirane
 Phone:      (042) 23843;      Fax: 23843

History & Collections

 The National Library was founded in Tirana in 1922 with a stock of 6,000 volumes. The liberation of the country in 1944 found it  with  a  stock  of  15.000 volumes. In 1986  it  had 883.000 volumes.

Under law the National Library receives free of charge 15 copies of all publications produced in the country. Its stock is also enriched with purchases, exchanges, and loans of books, and periodicals from other countries.

The National Library has a stock of about 30,100 publications on the history, linguistics, ethnography, and folklore of Albania. Its collections of  books and manuscripts on Albanology are· considered the richest and most important in the world. It also has 3 rich stock of books on the history and culture of the other countries of the Balkans.

Services

Library service is free.  The National Library keeps readers informed about its stock through a wide information network including: reference files, catalogues.  bibliographies.  and  bulletins.  The  annual circulation of books among readers is about 250.000 copies. The National Library is also the archive for Albanian books, preserving one copy of each publication.  It is also the center for study of practice and methods of library science and bibliography.

As the bibliographical center of the country, the National Library publishes the national bibliography on Albanian books (quarterly: first published in 1959) and the national bibliography of articles in Albanian periodicals (monthly. it appeared as a quarterly from 1961 to 1964 and as a bimonthly in 1965). The Library also  publishes an  annual  catalogue of the foreign
periodicals entering the country.

The National Library has an exchange system with the other libraries of the country and with many libraries abroad. In 1982 it had such relations with 480 foreign libraries, institutions, and international organizations and with scholars in the sciences from some 70 countries.

Sources:

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