Largest Library in The World

In traditional sense, a library is a collection of books. It can be defined as the room that houses such “a collection of books containing useful material for common use”. The material can be related to any field such as biology, statistics, electronics, computer science and mathematics. Now the modern libraries are increasingly being redefined as places where unrestricted access is allowed to information in many formats from many sources so here is the list of largest library in the world. Their scope is also broadened by accessibility of materials by electronic means. There are many types of libraries, such as academic libraries, public libraries, research libraries, school libraries and special libraries.

	Congress Libraries is the largest library in the world. It has the largest number of books, recordings, maps and manuscripts, which are over 33,012,750 in number. Situated in Washington D.C, this is the oldest library of USA. It was established in 1800, when President John Adams signed a bill providing for the transfer of the seat of government from Philadelphia to the new capital city of Washington. Official Website http://www.loc.gov/
	National Library of China is the largest library in the world and the biggest in Asia, and also included in the biggest libraries of the World. It’s collection is over 28,980,777 books which includes individually counted periodicals of about 12 million. It holds the largest worldwide collection of Chinese literature. The Library was founded in 1909 in Beijing, China and all the books on China’s history are available in the library. Official Website http://www.nlc.gov.cn/
	Anna Centenary Library is the largest library of south Asia which is established in 2010 with a budget of Rs. 1800 million. It is ampaign is going on against the November 2, 2011 announcement of the conversion of this library into a hospital by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. Official Website www.annacentenarylibrary.blogspot.com
	National Library Canada is a Canadian federal government department responsible for the collection and preservation of the documentary heritage of Canada through texts, pictures and other documents relevant to the history and culture of Canada. The collection of books is over (26,006,054) and this is included in the largest libraries in the world. This most beautiful library is the national asset of Canada. Official Website http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/
	Deutsche Bibliothek is the national library of Germany which was established in 1912. The prime purpose of this library is to collect all the German publications and collection of all material published on Germany in other languages. It is included in the ten biggest libraries in the world as it has 24,487,010 volumes. Official Website http://www.d-nb.de/eng/index.htm
	British Library is the national library of the UK, which was founded in 1753. It is based in London and one of the world’s most significant research libraries, holding over (15,500,000) items in all known languages and formats. The Library’s collections include around 23,500,000 books. BL includes almost three million books every year in its archives. Official Website http://www.bl.uk/
	Harvard University Library system comprises about 90 libraries, with more than (16,000,000) books. It is the oldest library system in the United States and one of the largest academic library systems in the world. It was founded in 1638 by John Harvard and initially, there were only 400 books in this library. It is the fourth largest libraries in USA following Library of Congress, Boston Public Library and New York Public Library. Official Website http://hul.harvard.edu/
	Russian State Library is the largest library of Russia. It was founded in 1795 and now located in Moscow. It is the largest and the oldest library in the country and included in the largest libraries in the world due to its volumes. Its collection of books is over 17 million. It should not be confused with the Russian National Library which is located in St Petersburg. Official Website http://www.rsl.ru/en
	New York Public Library (NYPL) is one of the leading public libraries of the world and is one of America’s most significant research libraries. It was founded in 1895 and now it has 87 branches. Its books collection is over (14,685,192). The director of this library is Ann Thornton who is the president and CEO of Anthony Marx. Official Website http://www.nypl.org/
	National Diet library is the one of the largest and greatest libraries of the world, located in Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1948 for researching matters of public policy, now it has 27 branches in the country. There are over (14,304,139) books of all types. Books on all topics like science, religion, politics, laws, maps, music etc, are available in this library making a huge collection of 34.7 million items. Official Website http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/index.html
	Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1701. It is one of the largest academic library in the world, with approximately (13,000,000) volumes housed in 22 individual libraries. Several of its collections rank among the best anywhere and attract scholars from around the globe. Official Website http://www.library.yale.edu/