A brief overview of a few national libraries

1. Just a few National Libraries

2. The Biblioteca Nacional de España (circa 2005).
One is not allowed to visit the collection without
an appointment. They had a nice exhibit for the
500th anniversary of Don Quixote de la Mancha,
though.

3. St. Isidore and Alfonso the Wise greet visitors to
the Biblioteca Nacional de España.

4. The Honduran National Library (taken in 2010), by
contrast, is quite a bit smaller and less ornate.
The graffiti appeared during the coup of 2009
and, as you can see, painting out the word
“golpista” (coup member) seemed to be rather
ineffective.

5. The inside is quite lovely, though. The Biblioteca Nacional
de Honduras sits in the former home of the national hero
Francisco Morazán, right in the heart of Tegucigalpa.
Excellent location for a national library, very accessible.

6. The library hosts special events (advertised on the bulletin
board here). I attended a reggae-rap music fest one night.
The place was packed!

7. As with many national libraries, the Biblioteca Nacional de
Honduras supports local artists by purchasing and
displaying work. The architecture of the building has also
been designed to make it beautiful place to visit.

8. The Biblioteca Nacional de México (taken October 2008). The huge
stained glass is of the eagle national symbol that is also found on
the Mexican flag and money. The tunnel at the bottom goes from
the circulating stacks (seen a little on the right) to the national
archive.

9. Can you tell which cataloging system they use at the Biblioteca
Nacional de México?
The lowermost sign says that one may consult a maximum of three
books at a time in this room. Books and other materials are not
circulated outside the library, which is common for national
libraries.

10. The Biblioteca Nacional de México is located in the Zona Cultural,
or cultural zone of Mexico City and is considered a part of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The
National Library is surrounded by a very lovely sculpture park.

11. The Mexican National Library also hosts a virtual library portal:
http://www.cervantesvirtual.com
(Not all national libraries do digital.)

12. Here’s the Hungarian National Library (great full scale photo downloaded from
http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/exhibition/buildings/countries/hungary.html)

13. It is named the Országos Széchéneyi Könyvtár, or National
Széchényi Library, in honour of Count Ferenc Széchényi, a 17 th
century aristocrat who travelled the world buying Hungarian
books which he later donated to the nation.

14. This information pillar in the entryway offers
instructions (in English, for tourists like me who
stop in for a look) for how to register, circulation
policies, hours, etc.

15. Here’s my permission slip to get in to the National Library of
Hungary in Budapest (in 2011). When I told them I wasn’t going
to use anything and that I’m an educator they let me in for free,
which I really appreciated.

16. I then had to read carefully to figure out which
floor was the main reading room. 5th floor.

17. I was greeted by the classic card catalog.

18. The reading room was a lovely room with good
lighting. The chairs all face the digital display
which shows ticket numbers. Folks can request
items from the closed stacks and they are
retrieved and sent to the 5th floor...

19. ...using a pretty nifty book mover.

20. Reference materials were on the shelves in the
main reading room for general use...

21. ...here we see the Australian reference collection.

22. I couldn’t quite figure out what their classification
system was. I think it is one particular to Hungary.