National Library of Serbia (NBS)

Overview

The National Library of Serbia (Narodna biblioteka Srbije, NBS) is Serbia's national, central library, located on the Vračar plateau in Belgrade beside the Temple of Saint Sava. It is the largest and oldest cultural institution in the country.

History

The library had no single official founding act, but its origins trace to 1832, when Prince Miloš Obrenović's government acquired book collections including those of printer and bookseller Gligorije Vozarović. On February 28, 1832, Dimitrije Davidović, publisher of Serbia's first newspaper, wrote to Prince Miloš proposing the library's organization, and in November of that year Prince Miloš ordered legal deposit of printed books. The library moved among various Belgrade and Kragujevac locations in its early decades before relocating in 1864 to Captain Miša's Mansion, donated by philanthropist Miša Anastasijević, remaining there until 1914. The Press Law of 1870 formally established legal deposit privileges and separated the library from the Ministry of Education. During World War I, bombing damaged the library and its remaining holdings were dispersed to Niš, Kosovska Mitrovica, and Sofia for safekeeping, with significant losses including 3,132 books and nearly all 1914-1915 newspapers. Under the National Library Act and Press Law, both of 1919, the library became the Central State Library of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, with legal deposit rights across the kingdom. In 1920 the library acquired a dedicated building at Kosančićev venac 14. During the Axis bombing of Belgrade on April 6, 1941, the library and its building were completely destroyed, with losses including about 500,000 volumes, 1,424 Cyrillic manuscripts and charters, 4,000 periodical titles, and 1,800 newspaper titles. After Belgrade's liberation in 1944, the library was rebuilt using donated and reallocated collections and reopened to the public in 1947. Construction of the current purpose-built building, designed by architect Ivo Kurtović, was authorized in 1954 to mark the 150th anniversary of the First Serbian Uprising; the building opened with an official ceremony on April 6, 1973.

Collections, Holdings, and Publications

The library maintains extensive special collections including Cyrillic manuscripts, early printed and rare books, cartographic materials, and photographs. It has published the Yugoslav (later Serbian) Current Bibliography since 1928 and its journal, Glasnik Narodne biblioteke, since 1940. Its Bibliographical and Archeographical Departments, founded in 1960, compile the Serbian retrospective bibliography and describe South Slavic Cyrillic manuscripts.

Access and Usage

The library serves as Serbia's central research and reference institution for scientific information, and has offered e-lending services since 2011.