School of Information Management & Systems.
290-1  Design of Library Services.   Buckland. Spring 1999.

NATIONAL LIBRARIES.

- Alexandria. Journal about national libraries edited by Maurice B. Line.
- Line, Maurice B. & Joyce Line, eds. National Libraries. London: Aslib, 1979. Reprint of selected papers published 1955-1976; National Libraries 2. Aslib, ?1987, papers publ. 1977-1985; National Libraries 3. Aslib 1995, papers publ. 1983-1994. Selected annotated bibliography in 1 & 2 only. MAIN Z675.N2.N37
- Willison, Ian R. 1989. The national library in historical perspective. Libraries and Culture 24 (1989): 75-95. Repr. in National Libraries 3, pp 75-95. Excellent account of how new designs are created for new political circumstances.
- National Libraries. Encycl. of L&IS 19(1976):100-101.

National libraries perform some combination of:
- Collecting nation's publications; legal deposit
- Collection foreign publications in the national language and/or about the country
- Collect foreign literature; "Universal library".
- Compile national bibliography
- Compile union catalog
- Operate information center / service
- Research and development
- Professional (continuing) education
- Lend books as last resort, esp. to other libraries
- Operate public library services
- Serve as Ministry of Library Services (= "State Library Agency")
- Book service for the blind and visually handicapped service
- Dispense public funding for library services
- Advocacy for libraries.

Functions of national libraries (From Eric Wainwright. The national library in an electronic age: dinosaur or catalyst? National Libraries 3 (1989):26-32; p. 27.)     "But first, we must consider the range of library and information services functions that might be carried out at the national level. As Line has pointed out, the functions of national libraries have been analysed several times over the past three decades, but while the lists show a great many similarities, there are few if any national libraries that carry out all of the functions listed. In the most recent Unesco-sponsored work on the topic, Cornish suggests that the basic functions that a national library might reasonably perform are to:
- provide the central collection of materials produced within or about the country or region in which the national library is situated;
- maintain a comprehensive collection of foreign publications;
- provide national leadership in library and information affairs;
- be the hub of librarianship and the prime mover in library developments;
- provide a national information system to facilitate economic and social development at both national and personal levels;
- receive materials through legal deposit;
- act as the national archive for non-published materials;
- create the national bibliographic record;
- make its collections nationally available;
- act as a national resource for non-print materials;
- provide a national resource for non-print materials;
- undertake to conserve the national printed heritage;
- provide a central coordinating point for research in library and information science;
- provide a national service for the handicapped.