| KB National Library of the Netherlands | |
|---|---|
| Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) | |
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.jpg) The KB as seen from the Prins Bernhardviaduct | |
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| 52°4′50.37″N4°19′36.35″E / 52.0806583°N 4.3267639°E /52.0806583; 4.3267639 | |
| Location | The Hague |
| Type | National Library |
| Established | 1798 (227 years ago) (1798) |
| Collection | |
| Size | 7 million printed items: over 115 km (71 mi) of books, newspapers, journals, and microforms[1] |
| Access and use | |
| Members | 16,975 |
| Other information | |
| Budget | €128 million (2023)[2] |
| Director | Wilma van Wezenbeek |
| Employees | 481 FTE (2023) |
| Website | www |
TheKB National Library of the Netherlands (legalDutch name:Koninklijke Bibliotheek[ˈkoːnɪŋkləkəˌbiblijoːˈteːk] orKB[kaːˈbeː];Royal Library) is thenational library ofthe Netherlands, based inThe Hague, founded in 1798.[3][4]
The KB collects everything that is published in and concerning the Netherlands, frommedieval literature to today's publications. About 7 million publications are stored in the stockrooms, including books, newspapers, magazines and maps. The KB offers digital services, such as the national online Library (with e-books and audiobooks),Delpher (millions of digitized pages) andThe Memory (about 800,000 images). Since 2015, the KB has played a coordinating role for the network of the public library.[5] The KB's collection of websites as hosted by the former Dutch internet provider XS4ALL is on the Unesco documentary world heritage memory of the world. It is the first web collection in the world that has been granted this status.[6]
The initiative to found a national library was proposed by representative Albert Jan Verbeek on 17 August 1798. The collection would be based on the confiscated book collection ofWilliam V.[7][8] The library was officially founded as theNationale Bibliotheek (National Library) on November 8 of the same year, after a committee of representatives had advised the creation of a national library on the same day. The National Library was initially only open to members of the Representative Body.
KingLouis Bonaparte gave thenational library in 1806 the predicate 'Royal'. Napoleon Bonaparte transferred the Royal Library to The Hague as property, while also allowing the Imperial Library in Paris to expropriate publications from the Royal Library. In 1815 KingWilliam I of the Netherlands confirmed the name of 'Royal Library' (Dutch: Koninklijke Bibliotheek) by royaldecree. It has been known as the National Library of the Netherlands since 1982, when it opened new quarters.[9] The institution became 'Independent Administrative Body' of the state in 1996, although it is financed by theDepartment of Education, Culture and Science. On 18 November 2014 the Wsob (Public Library Facilities System Act or 'Library Act'[10]) came into being. The act became valid on 1 January 2015 and from this moment onwards four organizations from the library world continued under the name Koninklijke Bibliotheek. These organizations are Sector Institute Public Libraries (SIOB), the Foundation Bibliotheek.nl (BNL), theDigital Library for Dutch Literature (DBNL) and the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB). In 2020 the name was changed to 'KB, national library'.
The KB's main task is to acquire, catalogue, store and make available the printed (including the modern digital variants) heritage of the Netherlands and thus offer everyone in the Netherlands the opportunity to read, learn and research. It is also responsible for directing and coordinating the Public Library world according to the Public Library Facilities Act (WSOB). Together with the network of (public) libraries, the KB is building the national digital library.
In the KB's older collections, thehumanities were central, with an emphasis on Dutch history, language and culture. Since 1974, however, all publications in the field ofexact andsocial sciences have also been collected within the framework of the 'Depot van Nederlandse Publicaties' (Depository of Dutch Publications).
In 2016, the KB contained 7,000,000 items, equivalent to 115 kilometres of bookshelves. Most items in the collection are books. There are also pieces of "grey literature", where the author, publisher, or date may not be apparent but the document has cultural or intellectual significance.[9] The collection contains almost the entire literature of theNetherlands, from medieval manuscripts to modern scientific publications. As there was no mandatory law for depositing Dutch publications, the library started on 1 January 1974, the voluntary 'Depot van Nederlandse Publicaties' (Dutch Repository Library). This in contrast with most other countries that have alegal deposit of publications. For a publication to be accepted, it must be from a registered Dutch publisher.[9]
The Royal Library of the Netherlands also has works of art and antiquities. One such piece of art isThe Madonna with the Christ Child by the fifteenth-century French painterJean Fouquet, who is regarded as one of the best painters from that era. A valuable antiquity that is housed within the library is a bound book byChristopher Plantin (1520–89), a sixteenth-century French printer and publisher. The binding is made of brown calfskin with gold tooling. The book was made at Plantin's workshop in Antwerp and was dedicated toEmperor Charles V (1500–58). The library also has remarkable eighteenth-century brocade paper from Augsburg, Germany. In addition, the library holds a rare elaborately illustrated book from 1596. The book is of the travels ofJan Huygen van Linschoten (1563-1611). He travelled to Spain, India, Indonesia, and East Asia.[11] Another valuable antiquity is the oldest depiction of 'Dutchmen'. In 975,Count Dirk and Countess Hildegard donated the medieval manuscript, known as theEgmond Gospels, toEgmond Abbey. It is one of the oldest surviving church treasures and includes depictions of 'Dutch' people and buildings. TheEgmond Gospels were lost around the sixteenth century, but were found in the early nineteenth century. Knowing its historical significance, the Dutch government purchased the manuscript and brought it to the Royal Library of the Netherlands.[12] The Royal Library of the Netherlands also has theTrivulzio Book of Hours (ca. 1465), a medieval manuscript that measures 9 cm x 13 cm, and contains wonderfully detailed Flemish miniature art.[13] One of the most precious atlases is theAtlas van der Hagen[14] of 4 volumes, each containing something more than 100 maps and prints, created around 1690. All plates were coloured by hand and highlighted with gold byDirk Jansz van Santen, a famous 'afzetter' (somebody who embellished prints, maps and book illustrations at a time when it was not yet possible to print in colour).
In 1871, the library bought the library of A. van der Linde, among others devoted tochess. Mixed with that of M. Niemeijer, acquired in 1948, theBiblioteca van der Linde-Niemeijeriana (approximately 40,000 items) forms one of the most important collections worldwide on this topic.[15]
The collection is accessible for members. Any person aged 16 years or older can become a member. One-day passes are also available. Requests for material take approximately 30minutes. The KB hosts several open access websites, including the "Memory of the Netherlands" (Geheugen van Nederland),[16]Digital Library for Dutch Literature[17] andDelpher, an archive of more than 100 million pages as of 2020.[18] The KB also holds material related tothe Fagel Collection.
The KB started a voluntary Deposit of Dutch Publications on 1 January 1974. In 1985, by decree of the Council of Ministers, government departments and institutions and institutions subsidized by the government were obliged to submit a free copy of their publications to the KB. The KB strives for a Dutch collection that is as complete as possible of books, magazines and geographical maps published in the Netherlands, written abroad by Dutch people or about the Netherlands.Sheet music (because the volume of publications per year was too large for processing within the Depository) andBraille books (so as not to unnecessarily withdraw copies from libraries for the blind) were excluded from the start. At first, local door-to-door newspapers were also included, but the acquisition was stopped in 1992. Title information of the publications is included in the Dutch National Bibliography. In 1976, the editorship ofBrinkman's Cumulatieve Catalogus van Boeken (Brinkman's Cumulative Catalog of Books)(1858-2001) was taken over from the private publisher Samsom-Sijthoff, giving it the status of national bibliography. The KB has been carrying out the Depositary Task since 1974 and thus manages part of the Dutch cultural heritage. In order to protect the interests of the copyright holders, the publications can only be consulted locally, unless the copyright holder consents to such online consultation.
TheShort-title catalogue, Netherlands is a service of the KB. It concerns a database of the Dutch retrospective bibliography up to 1800. The database contains (abridged) descriptions of all books that were published up to and including the year 1800 within the borders of the present-day Netherlands and of all books published in the Dutch language outside the Netherlands. The STCN is made on the basis of the collections of libraries in and outside the Netherlands. The size of the file is more than 200,000 titles in more than 500,000 copies (November 2013). The STCN was created in a project. The project was completed in 2009. The service is continued by the KB and the database is expanded daily.
The Literature museum was founded in 1750[19] as Nederlands Letterkundig Museum,[20] The museum contains a large collection of letters, manuscripts and memorabilia. The museum has three permanent and several temporary exhibitions. It also contains a special children's book museum.[19] On 4 February 2016, an online museum was opened.[20] On 1 November 2016, the museum was renamed to Literature museum.[21] The museum has a reading room with an extensive collection of newspaper clipping, and under certain conditions, some archival material can be consulted.[19]
On the occasion of the bicentenary of the library in 1998, the exhibitionHet worderbaarlijke alfabet (The Miraculous Alphabet) was organized in theNieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam and three books[22][23][24] and a special 80 cent stamp were issued. In 2002, the next major exhibitionWonderland, from Pietje Bell to Harry Potter, especially for children, was held in theKunsthal in Rotterdam, in which a selection was made from its collection of 125,000 children's books.[25][26] Thanks to support from the VSB Cultural Fund, which took care of the transport of more than 40,000 school children between 8 and 12 years old from all over the Netherlands, this was a great success. When a new storeroom extension of the KB complex was taken into use in 2006, the exhibitionMagazine! was organized. This was set up as a three-dimensional magazine in which the visitor literally walks around.[27]
The KB's Research Department is engaged in internationally renowned research in the field of digital technology, sustainable preservation and accessibility of both paper and digital heritage. Important topics are the applicability ofartificial intelligence, the use ofbig data, the increasing importance of privacy & security, the changes in the publishing and publishing world and the role of public libraries in today's society.
In 2015, it was discovered that “View of the Kattenberghof in Antwerp with horsemen in the foreground” byGillis Neyts (1618-1687) had belongedDr. Arthur Feldmann, a Jewish art collector fromBrno (Czech Republic) who was murdered in theHolocaust.[28] In 2020 it was discovered that 'La buveuse d'absinthe', a watercolour byFélicien Rops from 1876 had belonged to the French collector,Armand Dorville.[29]
In 1973 the 'Rijksgebouwendienst' (Government Buildings Agency) awarded the contract to the architects A. Hagoort, P.B.M. van der Meer and A.J. Trotz from Bureau OD205 for a new building, construction of which began in 1977. Since 1982, the library has been housed in a modern building at the Prins Willem Alexanderhof in The Hague, next toThe Hague Central Station. The entire complex comprises approx. 55,000 m2 net and approx. 78,000 m2 gross surface (gross content 305,000 m3). The building, which is characterized by 5,200 white aluminum plates that clad the facades, with rounded corners and recessed facade surfaces, stands next to theNationaal Archief. The building also houses the 'Literatuurmuseum' (Literary Museum), theKinderboekenmuseum (Children's Book Museum),RKD and the offices ofEuropeana, DEN (Digital Heritage Netherlands)LIBER andIFLA. The CDNL[30] secretariat is also housed in the KB building. The library was previously located in the former city palace Huis Huguetan on theLange Voorhout (period 1821 to 1982), before that in theMauritshuis (period 1807 to 1821) and a site at theBinnenhof (period 1798 to 1807).[31]
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Although the provenance is mentioned in its own catalogue, the Library did not realise that it could be looted art. We bought the watercolour in good faith in 1968,' says interim director Sara Lammens. After the war the Library bought thousands of works, which may not always have been thoroughly provenance researched.
