Bibliothèque nationale du Burundi National Library of Burundi

Overview

The Bibliothèque nationale du Burundi (National Library of Burundi) is the national library of Burundi, located in Bujumbura, the country's largest city and former capital. It is administered by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and serves as the principal institution for the collection and preservation of Burundi's published and documentary heritage.

History and Founding

The National Library of Burundi was founded in 1989, more than two decades after Burundi's independence from Belgian colonial rule in 1962. It was established to provide a dedicated national institution for library services, legal deposit administration, and the preservation of the national bibliography. The library has operated through successive periods of political instability in Burundi, including the civil war of the 1990s and early 2000s, and has continued to develop its collections and services.

Collections and Holdings

The library's collections include books, periodicals, government publications, and other materials relevant to Burundian history, culture, and society. As the legal deposit institution, it receives copies of publications produced in Burundi, providing a record of the country's publishing output in Kirundi, French, and other languages. The collections document Burundian political, cultural, and social history from independence to the present.

Access and Usage

The Bibliothèque nationale du Burundi is open to researchers and the general public in Bujumbura. Further information is available through the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture's official website.