Kungliga Biblioteket, National Library of Sweden – Pic of the Week

I was recently in Stockholm where I paid a visit to the National Library of Sweden (Kungliga Biblioteket, or “KB”), which is situated in a very pretty park.  According to its website, the National Library “has been collecting virtually everything printed in Sweden or in Swedish since 1661.”  A brochure about the Library provides an interesting timeline that says that it was in that year that legal deposit legislation was created “requiring bookprinters to submit at least one copy of every printed item to KB prior to distribution.”   The Library is also tasked with “collecting, storing, describing, and providing access to a representative collection of foreign literature.”

I walked through the main reading room of the Library, which was lined with impressive-looking volumes and where nearly all the desks were full of people conducting research.  A staff member told me about the other reading rooms as well.  Unfortunately I do not speak Swedish, otherwise I could have spent a lot of time looking through books in the collections and visiting the Audiovisual Research Room!