National Library of South Africa

The National Library of South Africa (NLSA) is the agency of the government of South Africa which maintains a national library of all published materials relating to the country.

History

In 1818, Lord Charles Somerset, the Cape Colony's first civil Governor, issued a proclamation to control the wine trade, imposing a tax on wine brought into Cape Town for sale. The net proceeds would be used to form a Public Library which should "lay the foundation of a system, which shall place the means of knowledge within reach of the youth of this remote corner of the Globe," (presuming a globe hath corners) "and bring within their reach what the most eloquent of ancient writers has considered to be one of the first blessings of life, 'Home Education'." Since that time, South Africa's library development was bifurcated although the library in Cape Town was the original establishment. The most likely model for Cape Town's "Public Library" was the London Institution (established in 1805 in the style of an Athenaeum).

Diplomat Edmund Roberts visited the library, then called the South African Library around 1833 and described it as "once the pride and boast of the colony." He noted that the library had approximately 10,000 volumes and called it a "highly creditable place."

The State Library

The came into being thanks to a donation of books from the Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde. These books consisted of a complete library of Dutch works, mainly Dutch literature and language, to the Transvaal Republic's government. The first consignment of eight chests of books arrived in 1883, including a chest from the Dutch Bible Society. On 21 September 1887 the Transvaal government approved the constitution of the Staats-Bibliotheek. As Pretoria began to grow in size, there arose a need for a public library. The State Library functioned as both a public and national library, from the early 1890s to 1964. The State Library ultimately took the responsibility of legal deposit too. These two libraries merged in November of 1999 and became the National Library of South Africa.

The first Pretoria Public Library had opened its doors in 1878, but because of ongoing financial problems was closed down in 1890. In 1893 strong public support and a collection of 700 saw another public library arise, this time under the wing of the Staats-Bibliotheek and with the bookstock of the former Public Library. From that time onward until 1964, the State Library performed a dual role as public library and national library. The first national librarian, the Afrikaans poet Jan Celliers, saw exchange agreements as a means of enriching the State Library's collections. The first exchange agreement was entered into in 1898 with the Smithsonian Institution of Washington in the United States. In terms of the agreement the State Library would receive all American official publications in exchange for two copies of each official publication of the South African republic. From the early thirties under the guidance of the visionary national librarian Matthew Stirling, the State Library began to develop the character of a central library for South Africa, taking on functions such as striving for a national library lending system and a centre for bibliographical information.

Creation under the National Library Act

thumb|Entrance foyer of the new, 2008, National Library, Pretoria

The National Library of South Africa's core national library functions are described in Section 4 subsection 1 of the National Library of South Africa Act (No. 92 of 1998), and cover the following broad areas:

to build up a complete collection of published documents emanating from or relating to South Africa;
to maintain and extend any other collections of published and unpublished documents with the emphasis on documents emanating from or relating to Southern Africa;
to promote the optimal management of collections of published documents held in South African libraries as a national resource; and to render a national bibliographic service and to act as the national bibliographic agency;
to promote optimal access to published documents, nationally and internationally;
to provide reference and information services, nationally and internationally;
to act as the national preservation library and to provide conservation services on a national basis;
to promote awareness and appreciation of the national published documentary heritage; and
to promote information awareness and information literacy.

Closed for renovation

Currently the National Library in Capetown is closed for renovation.

References

Bibliography

. (Includes information about the national library)

External links