KB, nationale bibliotheek, National library in The Hague, Netherlands
KB National Library of the Netherlands is a national library in The Hague storing seven million publications, from books to newspapers, magazines, and maps across 115 kilometers of shelving. The building includes reading rooms with wide windows, storage areas for rare editions, and a digital catalog section with workstations for users.
The institution opened in November 1798 and received its royal status from King Louis Bonaparte in 1806. It moved to the current modern building in 1982 after several relocations throughout earlier centuries.
The KB's chess collection, the Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana, grew from Antonius van der Linde's books bought in 1871 and 1876 and Meindert Niemeijer's in 1948, reaching about 35,000 titles. In the early 1970s curator Jan Storm van Leeuwen made comic strips an acquisition area. The Egmond Gospels, given to Egmond Abbey in 975, show the earliest depictions of Dutch people and buildings.
Access to the reading rooms requires an annual membership that also provides entry to over 150 digital collections and interlibrary loan services. Visitors should check in advance whether requested materials are directly available or need to be ordered beforehand.
The KB's web collection from former internet provider XS4ALL was the first web collection worldwide added to UNESCO's Memory of the World register. The Trivulzio Book of Hours, acquired in 2001, measures only 9 by 13 centimetres. The Egmond Gospels, donated in 975, include the oldest depictions of Dutch people and buildings.
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