National Library of Luxembourg

On 1 April 1798, the school library 'Bibliothèque de l’École centrale' was founded based on a law from 25 October 1795. Five years later, on 28 January 1803, it became a municipal library in Luxembourg City and changed its name to 'Bibliothèque de Luxembourg'. This name was kept until October 2019. Between 1973 and 2019 the library was located in the renovated building of the prior 'collège jésuite' next to the Luxembourg Notre-Dame cathedral on Boulevard Roosevelt. The law of 18 April 2013 defines the construction of a building in accordance with the functional needs of a national library of the 21st century, responding not only to the needs of conservation and valorisation of Luxembourg's intellectual heritage, but also to the renewed needs of the public and of future generations. Upon moving into its new Kirchberg building on 1 October 2019, it adopted its current name, Bibliothèque nationale du Luxembourg. The transition from "de" to "du" in its French-language name, signifies that the library serves the country of Luxembourg, rather than simply the capital, Luxembourg City. == Tasks ==

Heritage library As the country's main heritage library, the BnL is tasked with collecting, cataloging, preserving and valorising Luxembourgish heritage in all fields of knowledge. musical texts and artist's books. The BnL not only preserves but also studies these collections and regularly publishes its work, such as the 'De Litty' series, which aims to make Luxembourg's musical heritage more accessible to teachers and the younger generation. Moreover, the library curates and hosts exhibitions of patrimonial value as well as events and conferences either by itself or in collaboration with other establishments. Research and scientific library The BnL is a major research and scientific library and along with its Luxemburgensia collection, it also catalogues, preserves and valorises non-Luxembourgish publications of scientific and cultural value. Consortium coordination The Luxembourg Consortium serves the acquisition and management of electronic publications. Its offer enables a wide range of publications to be made available to academia, research, government officials and the general public. The BnL coordinates the Luxembourg Consortium and takes care of administration, software management, access and the negotiation of licenses and subscriptions. In 2017, the government library bibgov.lu was born out of a cooperation between the BnL, the Ministry of the Civil Service and Administrative Reform and the Centre for State Information Technologies (CTIE). It provides specialised digital resources to ministries and state administrations. The Luxembourg Consortium also coordinates and manages the ebooks.lu project, a free digital book lending service for e-books and digital audiobooks in French, German and English, accessible to readers of the National Library, the Bicherbus and several Luxembourg public libraries. It manages the software systems and tools used by the member libraries, coordinates the cataloging and indexing works and manages the national catalogue. Bicherbus The Bicherbus is a mobile library scheme serving 81 Luxembourgish villages on a weekly basis. Refurbished buses, in which the passenger seats have been replaced with bookshelves, circulate on multiple routes across the country. Since 24 June 2010, the BnL manages the Bicherbus scheme. ==Further reading==