Libraries timeline

A list of key dates in the development of libraries and related bodies.

This list is for general 'foundings, transformations, legislation, and closings' of libraries - the chronologies of specific libraries should be put on their particular pages.

Up to 1600

 * 1373 Merton College Library
 * 1440 Stadtbibliothek Hannover
 * 1549 Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek
 * 1555 National Library of Malta

17th century

 * 1602 Bodleian Library
 * 1607 National and University Library in Zagreb
 * 1610 Lambeth Palace Library
 * 1613 Kedermister Library
 * 1640 National Library of Finland
 * 1648 Danish Royal Library
 * 1660 Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Meiningen
 * 1696 Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt

18th century

 * 1707 Marsh's Library
 * 1712 Biblioteca Nacional de España and National Library of Spain
 * 1714 Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze and National Central Library (Florence)
 * 1717 New Hampshire State Library
 * 1770 Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense
 * 1774 National and University Library of Slovenia
 * 1777 National Library of Colombia
 * 1792 Oldenburg State Library
 * 1795 National Library of Russia
 * 1796 Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal and New Jersey State Library
 * 1798 Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands
 * 1800 Library of Congress instituted for the US Congress.

19th century

 * 1802 National Széchényi Library
 * 1806 King Louis Bonaparte gave the National Library of the Netherlands its current name.
 * 1810 National Library of Brazil and National Library of the Argentine Republic
 * 1813 National Library of Chile
 * 1815 Thomas Jefferson sold 6,487 books, his entire personal collection, to the Library of Congress.
 * National Library of Uruguay
 * 1818 National Library of South Africa and New York State Library
 * 1823 Library of Virginia
 * 1825 National Library Service of Belize
 * 1826 State Library of Massachusetts
 * 1827 Municipal Library of Akureyri
 * 1828 State Library of New South Wales
 * 1829 State Central Library, Kerala
 * 1832 National Library of Armenia, National Library of Greece, National Library of Moldova, and National Library of Serbia
 * 1833 National Library of Mexico and National Library of Venezuela
 * 1835 National Library of Algeria
 * 1837 Eutiner Landesbibliothek
 * 1839 Bermuda National Library, Royal Library of Belgium, and National Library of the Republic of Texas, later the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
 * 1848 Boston Public Library
 * 1849 Minnesota State Law Library and Administrative Library of the Ministry of Interior
 * 1850 California State Library and University of Sydney Library
 * 1854 Tennessee State Library and Archives
 * 1855 Rock Island Public Library and State Library of Kansas
 * 1859 National Library of Romania
 * 1862 National Agricultural Library and Russian State Library
 * 1865 National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan
 * 1870 National Library of El Salvador, National Library of Uzbekistan] and Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library (as the Tashkent Public Library)
 * 1874 Stadt- und Landesbibliothek Potsdam
 * 1876 National Central Library (Rome)
 * 1877 Mitchell Library and National Library of Ireland
 * 1879 National Library of Guatemala
 * 1880 Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense acquires the status of a national library. National Library of Honduras
 * 1883 National Archive and Library of Bolivia
 * 1884 Punjab Public Library, Lahore and Toronto Public Library.
 * 1885 National Library of Tunisia
 * 1888 National Library "Miguel Obregon Lizano" of Costa Rica
 * 1889 State Library of Western Australia and Vancouver Public Library
 * 1891 State Central Library, Hyderabad.
 * 1892 National Library of Israel
 * 1894 West India Reference Library established
 * 1895 National Library of Turkmenistan, Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesbibliothek and Swiss National Library.
 * 1899 National Library of Luxembourg
 * 1900 John Rylands Library

1901-1950

 * 1901 Idaho Commission for Libraries, National Library of the Philippines, Nebraska Library Commission and Pomeranian Library
 * 1905 National Library of Thailand and Oregon State Library
 * 1906 National Library Service of Barbados
 * 1907 Presidential Decree no. 1825, Brazil - established the duty of all publishers to send one copy of each publication to then-called Bibliotheca Nacional.
 * 1907 City of Warsaw Library, National Library of Wales and Stadt- und Landesbibliothek Dortmund (as Wilhelm-Auguste-Viktoria-Bücherei der Stadt Dortmund)
 * 1908 Dyal Singh Trust Library
 * 1909 Bibliothèque Louis Notari
 * 1910 A library established in Verny city (later Alma Ata) which would become the National Library of Kazakhstan, and National Library of the Seychelles
 * 1912 Catholic National Library and National Library of İzmir
 * 1913 National Library of Senegal
 * 1918 National Library of Estonia
 * 1919 German National Library of Economics, Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania (in Kaunas) andNational Library of Latvia
 * 1920 Iraq National Library and Archive, National Library of Albania
 * 1921 Pfälzische Landesbibliothek and Provincial Assembly of the Punjab Library.
 * 1922 Akhundov National Library and The National Library of Belarus
 * 1923 Luís Ángel Arango Library, National Library of Kuwait, National Library of Public Information and Orange County Library System
 * 1924 Bibliothèque Nationale du Royaume du Maroc (as Bibliothèque Générale) and National Library of Cambodia
 * 1925 Louis Notari Library, Mário de Andrade Library, National Library of Scotland and Windhoek Public Library
 * 1926 Los Angeles Central Library
 * 1927 Cyprus Library
 * 1928 National Library of Poland
 * 1929 New Mexico State Library
 * 1933 National Central Library
 * 1934 National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic
 * 1937 National Library of Iran
 * 1942 National Library of Panama
 * 1943 The Ewing Memorial Library
 * 1944 National and University Library St. Clement of Ohrid and National Library of Mali
 * 1945 National Library of Korea, National Library of the Maldives and Nicolaus Copernicus University Library
 * 1946 National Library of The Gambia, and National Library of Turkey
 * 1949 Ghana Library Board
 * 1950 Saarländische Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, as the Saarbrücken (Saarland) and University Library of the University of Saarland.

1951-2000

 * 1951 Delhi Public Library and National Library of Pakistan
 * 1952 National Library of Myanmar,
 * 1955-1990 National Parliamentary Library of Georgia operated under the name of "State Republic Library”
 * 1956 J S Battye Library, Louisiana State Archive and Research Library, National Library of Laosb National Library of Malaysia and Nelson Memorial Public Library.
 * 1957 Nepal National Library
 * 1958 National Library of Northern Cyprus
 * 1958 German National Library of Science and Technology, and Tribhuvan University Central Library
 * 1960 Basser Library, Guinea National Library and Archives, Lilly Library and National Library of Australia
 * 1961 George Padmore Research Library, National Library of Madagascar and National Library of Mozambique
 * 1963 Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania moves from Kaunas to Vilnius. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Library established, as a reference library. National Science Library of India
 * 1964 Library Service of Fiji and National Library of Nigeria
 * 1965 National Library Service of Kenya.
 * 1966 National Library of Cameroon
 * 1968 National Library Service of Botswana and  Solomon Islands Public Library
 * 1969 Gabon National Library and National Library of Togo
 * 1971 Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Library made a public library. Malcolm A. Love Library and National Library of Bangladesh,
 * 1973 German National Library of Medicine, and Robarts Library
 * 1974 Birmingham Central Library, National Library of the Democratic Republic of Congo and National Library Service of the Solomon Islands
 * 1975 National Library of Benin and National Library of Somalia
 * 1976 National Library of The Gambia became a national library.
 * 1977 National Library of Jordan
 * 1978 National Library of Jamaica and
 * 1979 Geelong Library and Heritage Centre and National Library of Guyana
 * 1980 National Library of Cambodia re-established.
 * 1986 National Library of Somalia building completed.
 * 1988 State Library of Queensland
 * 1989 National Library of the Democratic Republic of Congo became an autonomous body. Babar Ali Library, National Library of Norway and National Library of Rwanda
 * 1991 National Library of Sweden
 * 1992 Lebrecht Photo Library
 * 1993 National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic became the National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic.
 * 1994 National and University Library of Iceland  Saarbrücken (Saarland) and University Library of the University of Saarland renamed the Saarländische Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek.
 * 25 December 1996 National Parliamentary Library of Georgia established.
 * 1996 National Library of Burkina Faso
 * 1998 National Library and Documentation Services Board, National Transportation Library and Ruskin Library. Functions of the National Library of South Africa described in National Library Act, No 92 of 1998
 * 1999 National Library of Cape Verde and National Library of São Tomé and Príncipe,
 * 2000 National Library of Mauritius

21st century

 * 2001 Hong Kong Central Library
 * 2003 Bibliothèque Générale and Bibliothèque Générale et Archives renamed the Bibliothèque Nationale du Royaume du Maroc. Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003. National Library of Uganda established by an Act of Parliament in 2003.
 * 2004 Congressional Law no. 10,994, Brazil in effect updated publishers' legal deposit with the National Library of Brazil. Aloghar Library
 * 2005 The European Library
 * 2007 National Library of Laos starts collaborating with the University of Passau and the Berlin State Library  to create the Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts. The Scottish Screen Archive became part of the collection of the National Library of Scotland, and in 2015 was renamed as the Library's Moving Image Archive.
 * 2009 National Digital Library of Korea
 * 2012 Qatar National Library
 * June 2013 The Heritage Institute for Policy Studies organized a shipment of 22,000 books from the United States to Somalia as part of an initiative to restock the National Library of Somalia.
 * 2015 National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic renamed after the poet Alykul Osmonov. The former Scottish Screen renamed as the National Library of Scotland's Moving Image Archive