Among the available libraries, you can highlight those that are most famous all over the world, and also find out which of them are the most extraordinary and beautiful. There is also the largest electronic library.
The largest electronic library
We hear more and more often about electronic libraries. They have become a part of our lives, and this is understandable, because such libraries are incredibly convenient. Thanks to search engines, you can read almost any work simply from the screen. The spread of electronic technologies has directly affected the availability of digital libraries. They help preserve our cultural and scientific heritage. In addition, they greatly facilitate learning and help in work.The Google Books is deservedly recognized as the largest electronic library. It was created as a Google project. More than one hundred and thirty million books have been digitized, all of them translated into four hundred and eighty languages. These figures indicate that twenty percent of all books in the world have already been digitized, and all of them are in this electronic library.
Google's intention is to continue its digitization efforts until every book in the world has an electronic version. In America and Europe, translation into electronic format is carried out without obtaining permission from the authors, this is how everyone’s right to receive information is realized.
The most famous libraries
Despite the fact that electronic libraries are very popular, old, regular libraries are not losing ground. There is still a need for them. The Russian National Library is recognized as one of the most famous and largest. It is located in St. Petersburg and was among the first public libraries to appear in Europe. Among the books there are many publications in foreign languages. The library houses more than thirty-three million books. Every year it is visited by no less than one and a half million people. 
The Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences is another one of the most famous libraries. When it was organized during the reign of Peter I, it contained only two thousand publications in different languages. Today it is a universal repository with more than twenty and a half million copies of books.
The well-known Library of Congress of the United States appeared in 1800 in the American capital. Fourteen years later, it burned down along with the books. In 1865, the library was already the fourth largest in America, and it was significantly behind most famous libraries in the world. Now the Library of Congress is located in three buildings, which are connected by underground passages, and it contains one hundred forty-four million items. The library's collection includes more than thirty-two million books.
One cannot help but recall the Library of the British Museum, because it has always been among the most famous libraries in the world. On its basis, the National Library emerged through the merger of several large British libraries. This happened in 1973. British National Library - more than one hundred and fifty million items. The volume of annual replenishment is about three million publications.
Harvard University Library - consisting of more than one hundred libraries of colleges, schools, museums and so on, is recognized as the largest academic library. Among the well-known are the German National Economic Library and the National Library of China, which stores more than twenty-six million books. Among them there are very rare specimens, atlases, and manuscripts. There are also ancient inscriptions on turtle shells and inscriptions on animal bones.
There are libraries that are quite small in size, but well-known. These include the Bristol Central Library, the beautiful Stockholm Public Library, the Royal Library of Copenhagen and, of course, the Packham Library.
The most beautiful libraries
There are very special libraries. They rightfully bear the title of city landmarks and are works of art. I want to go there not only to read, but also to admire them. 
This is the Library of Trinity College (University of Dublin). The most ancient library in Switzerland and the most important among existing monastic libraries in the world stands out for its beauty - this is the Library of the Monastery of St. Gall. The Geisel Library is strikingly different in its unusual building design.
The most notable building in the city of Stockholm is the round building of the public library. Its construction was completed in 1928. It was there that open shelves were adopted for the first time in Sweden. The Library of Congress is the largest in the world
This library houses the largest collection of books in Russian abroad. The annual replenishment of the Library of Congress collection is equal to several million items.
By the way, it is in libraries that the most expensive books are stored. According to the site, the price of some publications can reach up to $22.6 million.
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The largest library in the world is the Library of Congress, located in Washington. Today it contains hundreds of millions of storage units, including many unique materials - 132 million copies of books in 470 languages, about 5 million maps, sheet music, engravings, photographs, hundreds of thousands of microfilms, 29 million units of handwritten material, more than 1 million . copies of printed publications covering the last three centuries.
The founding date of the largest library in the world can be considered April 24, 1800. On this day, US President John Adams signed a law moving the state capital from Philadelphia to Washington. Clause five of this law spoke of the need to allocate five thousand dollars to purchase the books needed by Congress and to arrange premises for their storage. At first, entry into it was open only to the President, Vice President and members of the US Congress.
In 1814, during the Civil War, British troops set fire to the Capitol, which housed the library, and more than three thousand books burned in the fire. Former President Thomas Jefferson, who had been collecting valuable and rare publications for many years, offered Congress to buy his personal collection of 6,487 volumes in various languages, which had no equal in the United States at that time. During the next fire in 1851, the collection of books decreased by 35 thousand copies (this is 55 thousand). The Capitol building, where the Library was located, was quickly rebuilt.
By 1865, the collection of the Library of Congress amounted to 80 thousand volumes and was significantly inferior to the national libraries of Russia, Germany, Great Britain, and France. In 1870, the US government adopted a decree according to which any public publication, after its publication in the United States, must immediately and without fail be transferred to the Library of Congress. This rule (decree) is still in effect today.
In November 1897, having moved to a new building, the Library of Congress opened its doors to ordinary citizens. The world's largest library building was built in downtown Washington, across from the Capitol, and was later named after the avid bibliophile and third US President, Thomas Jefferson. 22 sculptors and 26 artists worked on its creation. The façade of the building, designed in the style of the Italian Renaissance, was decorated with a fountain made in the likeness of the famous Roman Trevi Fountain.
The addition, which appeared in 1939, was named after John Adams, the second President of the United States. The third and largest building, built in 1980, was named after the fourth president, James Madison. Today, all these buildings are connected by underground passages. The library has its own power plant, book elevators and fire-resistant book storage.
About 1.7 million readers visit the Library of Congress each year, served by 3,600 employees. The largest library in the world includes 18 halls, each of which has 1,460 reading places.
The Library of Congress is a great cultural heritage and national treasure. It serves the US Government, private and industrial companies, various research foundations, schools, universities and other educational institutions. One of the most beautiful and largest libraries in the world is visited by thousands of tourists every month.
— Russian State Library, it is the second largest.
The largest library in the world is Library of Congress, which is located in the USA. It is considered a real landmark of Washington. It serves representatives of government agencies, as well as private firms, industrial companies, research, scientific and educational organizations.
An interesting fact is that the Library of Congress has a special department dedicated to copyright registration. Currently, copyright registration can occur directly via the Internet. To do this, you only need to correctly fill out the form, a sample of which is on the library website.
In general, the largest library in the world has very interesting, ancient roots. The date of its foundation is the distant year 1800. It was then that US President John Adams issued a decree on the creation of a library that could only be visited by the president, vice president, members of Congress, and the US Senate, which as a result led to the name - Library of Congress.
Initially, her collection consisted of only 740 books and three geographical maps of America, purchased in London. However, a year later the situation changed. Thomas Jefferson became the new president of America, who took the library’s collection seriously and constantly expanded and deepened it.
But 1814 was a tragic year for the Library of Congress. This year, Washington was almost completely burned by the British. The Capitol, where at that time there was a unique library with rare books, was also almost completely burned down.
After the liberation of the city from enemy troops, US President James Madison issued a personal order to restore the library. In turn, Thomas Jefferson offered Congress a lucrative deal. The state had to buy from the former president more than 6.5 thousand of his personal books, which he collected over more than 50 years, and for a very nominal fee - only 24 thousand dollars.
Today the book collection of the Library of Congress is considered the largest in the world. It houses more than 144 million books, newspapers, manuscripts, photographs, maps, sound recordings, microfilms and so on. Surprisingly, this is where the largest collection of books written in Russian and located outside of Russia is located. In addition, it should be noted that the annual growth of the library ranges from one to several million book units.
If you want to read a book, go to the library, most likely, there you can find the thing you need. Every large (and not only) city of every state has its own libraries. Some are very small, some are a little more impressive. What are the largest libraries in the world, where are they located and what is special about them?
Which institutions are included?
The largest libraries in the world are considered to be those that contain more than fourteen million books. There are twenty-four of them on the planet - the smallest of them is the library of our Novosibirsk, the largest is the American Library of Congress. In addition to them, the list of the largest libraries in the world includes literary repositories in cities and countries such as Russian Moscow and St. Petersburg, American New York and Boston, Canadian Ottawa, French Paris, Danish Copenhagen, Swedish Stockholm and many others... Everyone and you can't list it! It is impossible to cover all these libraries in one short article. Let's touch on just a few from this list at random.
The largest library in the world definitely deserves to be known to as many people as possible about it and its history. It is located in the capital of the United States, Washington, and has about one hundred and fifty-five million books and more than fifty million manuscripts.
The history of this library began in 1800 thanks to then President John Adams. It was then that the law moving the capital to Washington was signed, and in this law there was an instruction for the allocation of five thousand dollars for the purchase of books for the Congress and for the provision of premises for them. Access to this library was initially open only to the country's leadership - members of Congress, the Senate, and the president himself. So it is not surprising that the new repository began to be called the Library of Congress.
Thomas Jefferson played a significant role in its formation. It was he who, as president of the country, began to significantly expand the library collection, and having already given up his post to the next manager, he offered his personal collection for the library, which contained more than six thousand volumes - this happened after the British burned Washington during the war , and with it the Capitol, where the library was located. A similar collection did not exist in the States. Thus, thanks to Jefferson, the revival of the first of the largest libraries in the world began. Next - a little more about the institution.
The main one among the largest libraries in the world is located in three buildings connected to each other by a thread of underground passages; Each of these buildings bears the name of a person. The main building, the oldest, is named after Thomas Jefferson. At the end of the thirties of the last century, a second building appeared - named after John Adams. The third building was named after James Madison, it is the newest - it opened only in the eighties of the last century. It contains periodical literature from all over the world.
By the way, about literature. What is there in the Library of Congress! Books on law, medicine, philology, agriculture, politics, history, technical and natural sciences... In total, there are eighteen reading rooms in three library buildings, where these riches are housed. And since the thirties of the last century, the library became national.
The National British Library dates back to the early seventies of the last century. Compared to the Library of Congress, it is still very young, but in terms of the number of books it is only slightly inferior to it - it contains about one hundred and fifty million different copies. It takes an honorable second place in the list of the largest libraries in the world.
The British Library is located in London. This repository contains many truly unique masterpieces of literature. For example, it is in the British Library (by the way, it also consists of three buildings) that the manuscript of the epic “Beowulf” is located - the only copy in the whole world. The first printed map of the New World is also kept there, and there you can see the most valuable manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci - and a lot of other things that are truly exciting and delightful to the soul and eye.
Library of Canada
The very young Library of Canada was formed only fourteen years ago through the merger of the Canadian Archives and the National Library with the aim of preserving and enhancing the documentary sources of the culture and history of this country. Funds are regularly replenished by various donors; in addition, government organizations also send copies of newly published books.
Unlike the above repositories, the Canadian Library and Archives specializes primarily in its own country. It contains about forty-eight million copies of various publications (and not only), including an incredible number of sources related specifically to this state. Magazines, artifacts, children's literature, documents, films, maps, various manuscripts, photographs - in general, everything that is in some way connected with history and
Russian National Library
Everyone knows about the RSL - the Russian State Library in Moscow, but not everyone knows that St. Petersburg is also one of the lucky cities that can boast of having one of the largest libraries in the world. It is in the city on the Neva that the national library of our country is located, whose collection contains about thirty-seven million items.
The St. Petersburg library received its current name relatively recently - in the early nineties of the last century. Until then, it had never been called! But most Russian citizens know this repository of literature under the unofficial name “Publichka”. The construction of the Imperial Public Library (this was its first name) began at the end of the reign of Catherine the Great, but continued for almost a century and a half. At the beginning of its work, the library had about two hundred and sixty thousand books, only four (!) of which were written in Russian. The development of the library, both in terms of an increase in the number of books and a relatively influx of readers, occurred in the mid-nineteenth century, as a result of which the depository acquired a new building.
Since the middle of the last century, the National Library in St. Petersburg has been providing methodological assistance to libraries in various regions of our country. Many unique exhibits are stored within its walls, for example, Voltaire’s library, the Ostromir Gospel, the Laurentian Chronicle and others.
Library of Japan
The National Diet Library is located in Tokyo and is the seventh largest library in the world. It was founded at the very end of the fifties of the twentieth century and has a fund of almost thirty-six million books. The library is called parliamentary because it was originally intended for members of parliament.
Its main feature is that it houses the International Library of Children's Literature, where about four hundred thousand volumes of books for young readers are stored. In total, the Japanese library has one central department and twenty-seven subsidiary departments.
The Royal Library of Denmark is located in its very heart - in Copenhagen. It is one of the largest libraries in the world in general and in Scandinavia in particular. This is a very old library - its history dates back to the mid-seventeenth century. However, this literary repository became available for mass use only after more than a century.
The library has had its current name for twelve years. It is famous, in addition to the fact that all works printed in the country since the seventeenth century are stored there, also for the theft of more than three thousand books, which occurred in the seventies of the last century. Only at the beginning of this century was it possible to find out who was guilty of the theft. Ironically, this man - he used to work in this very library - died that same year.
French National Library
It is not only one of the largest libraries in the world, but also one of the oldest in Europe. For quite a long period of time it was the personal library of the kings. Charlemagne is considered to be its founder, but after the death of the king, the collection was lost and sold out. Louis the Ninth began to restore the vault again.
The national library, located in Paris, acquired a large volume of publications during the French Revolution. Then, by the way, it began to be called national. By the way, it was she who was one of the first in the world to digitize her funds - not all, but the most popular ones.
Library of the Ancient World
If everything is more or less clear with modern times, then what was the situation like in ancient times? After all, even then there was a need for such storage facilities. The largest library of the Ancient World can rightfully be called the library of Ashurbanipal, the Assyrian king who lived and ruled in the seventh century BC. He took the matter of collecting and preserving books seriously: he sent messengers-scribes to different settlements, who found ancient books and copied them. The Assyrian ruler called his collection “House of Instructions and Advice.” Unfortunately, a good part of the collection was lost in a fire; the rest is kept in Britain.
- The Library of Congress houses the personal collection of books by Krasnoyarsk resident G.V. Yudin - about eighty thousand units.
- Japanese law states that all publishers there are required to send everything they publish to the Diet Library.
- The German National Library collects and archives all kinds of publications from around the world in German.
- Ninety thousand audio and video files are stored in the library of Spain.
- The Ukrainian library contains such rarities as the Kyiv Glagolitic Leaves, the Orsha Gospel or Aristotle’s “History of Animals” on parchment.
Just a few of the world's major libraries in history are briefly discussed here. Meanwhile, each of them - of those mentioned and not mentioned above - is fraught with so much interesting history, so many unusual things... All of them deserve the right to be known to as many people as possible.
Before the advent of gadgets, people obtained the information they were interested in exclusively in libraries. The largest library in the world is the American Library of Congress. Its collection includes 155 million copies of books, manuscripts, maps and other materials. The institution serves 1.8 million visitors annually. It has 3,600 employees. Below are the 5 largest libraries on Earth.
The honorary title of the largest library is held by the US National Library - the scientific library of Congress, serving research enterprises, government agencies, industrial companies, private firms, and schools.
The library was founded in 1800 by order of President John Adams. Only members of the Senate and Congress, the president, and the vice president had access to its resources. At the time of its founding, the library's collection included 745 books and 3 maps of America.
In 1814, the library building burned down. To restore it, Congress purchased from Thomas Jefferson his personal collection of 6,487 books. In 1851, the library survived a second fire. $170,000 was allocated from the budget for its restoration.
After reconstruction, ministers, judges, heads of departments, some representatives of political parties, scientists, writers, and journalists from reputable media received access to the resources of the Library of Congress. Since 1870, the library has been required to receive one copy of all public publications published in the United States. In 1930 the library received the title of national.
The Library of Congress occupies four buildings: the Main Building, the John Adams Building, the James Madison Memorial Building (including the Mary Pickford Theater), and the Video and Audio Preservation Center.
The library consists of 18 reading rooms, which can simultaneously accommodate 1,460 visitors. Its fund consists of 156 million storage units, of which: 30 million books in 470 languages, 58 million manuscripts, 12.6 million photos, 4.9 million maps, 500,000 videos, 2.7 million audio recordings, newspapers from all over the world, government publications. The volume of funds in digital form is approaching 20 terabytes. Budget – $130 million.
By merging the libraries of the British Museum, the Patent Office, the National Bureau of Technical and Scientific Information, and the Council for National Bibliography, the British Library was created - the second largest after the Library of Congress. The library has three branches, access to its reading rooms is free, and readers over 18 years of age are allowed to access the resources.
The British Library collection has 152 million items, which occupy 625 km of shelves. The annual increase is 12 km. Total area – 112,000 sq. km. The main building consists of 14 floors, 5 of them underground. The library serves 16,000 visitors every day, and is visited by 2.3 million readers every year. The state employs about 2,000 employees. Budget: £141 million.
The British Library stores unique publications: manuscripts, the first printed map of the New World, Buddhist manuscripts, the Lindisfar Gospel, Codex Sinaiticus, etc.
Since 1895, the library in New York has existed as a private, non-profit public organization. It is considered the most extensive library in the world. It consists of 87 divisions, of which: 77 branches, 4 buildings with reading rooms, 4 buildings providing subscription books, divisions for people with disabilities. The volume of funds is 53.5 million units, of which more than 20 million are books.
The institution serves 18 million visitors annually. Visiting the halls is free for everyone. The state employs 3,200 employees. The New York Library maintains a special patrol unit that monitors order in its various branches and ensures their safety.
4. Library and Archives Canada
In 2004, through the merger of the National Archives and the National Library of Canada, a government department was founded, responsible for collecting and storing the country's documentary heritage. The library building is located in Ottawa on an area of 52.6 square meters and occupies 5 floors. 13.2 million Canadian dollars were allocated for its construction.
The library's collection includes 48 million items. It houses 350,000 works of art, 22 million photographs, 72,000 hours of video footage, and Canada's largest collection of folk music. The institution's electronic database occupies 3.2 million MB.
The director of the Library and Archives of Canada is Daniel Caron, who occupies the chair of deputy minister. He was also awarded the title of Archivist and Librarian of Canada.
On the basis of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museums, the National Library of the Russian Federation was created in 1862, which is also a leading research enterprise in the field of book science, bibliography, library science, a methodological center for Russian libraries, and a center for recommendatory bibliography. The RSL has had its current name since 1992.
The Russian State Library consists of 8 departments and 2 editorial divisions:
- fund system management;
- management of specialized departments;
- information management for the Khimki complex;
- directory system management;
- automation management;
- information resources management;
- Information Technology Department;
- technical support department;
- magazine "Oriental Collection";
- editorial and publishing department.
The volume of the library's collections is 44.8 million items. Its resources are used annually by 1.5 million visitors, who are served by 38 reading rooms with a capacity of 1,746 people. The RSL publishes its own scientific publications. Open to everyone.
The RSL carries out book exchange with 550 partners in 63 countries. Since 1956 it has been the depositary library of UNESCO. In 1992, the RSL became the headquarters of the Eurasian Library Assembly. In 2009, she received gratitude from the President of Russia for her contribution to the restoration and preservation of the heritage of Russian culture and history.