About us

The KB is the National Library of the Netherlands. We bring research, reading, discovery and lifelong learning within reach of everyone in the Netherlands. At home and in the library, online and offline. Since our foundation in 1798, our aim has been to collect as many publications as possible, that were written in or about the Netherlands. From mediaeval manuscripts to newspapers, and from Donald Duck magazine to historical and present-day novels.

Our repository in The Hague stores over 120 kilometres of written heritage. Increasingly more of our collection is now digital. Our e-Depot contains some 40 million digital newspapers, books, magazines, e-books and websites. We also help researchers to find digital sources and datasets. Together with the public libraries, we are committed to promoting reading, digital inclusion and lifelong development. We also host services such as the Online Library, Delpher and DBNL (the Digital Library for Dutch Literature).

To learn more about the National Library, read this page and find out who we are and what we do.