National Library of Wales
The National Library of Wales (Welsh: Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the largest collections of archives, portraits, maps and photographic images in Wales. The Library is also home to the national collection of Welsh manuscripts, the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, and the most comprehensive collection of paintings and topographical prints in Wales.[2][3] As the primary research library and archive in Wales[4] and one of the largest research libraries in the United Kingdom, the National Library is a member of Research Libraries UK (RLUK)[5] and the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL).[6]
At the very core of the National Library of Wales is the mission to collect and preserve materials related to Wales and Welsh life and those which can be utilised by the people of Wales for study and research.[7] Welsh is the Library's main medium of communication but it does, however, aim to deliver all public services in Welsh and English.[8] In January 2015 the Library, in partnership with Wikimedia UK, appointed a full-time Wikipedian in Residence with the aim of developing further its resources on an open licence, to a worldwide audience.[9][10]
In 1873, a committee was set up to collect Welsh material and house it at University College, Aberystwyth. In 1905, the government promised money in its budget to establish a National Library and a National Museum of Wales, and the Privy Council appointed a committee to decide on the location of the two institutions.[11] David Lloyd George, who later became Prime Minister, supported the effort to establish the National Library in Aberystwyth,[12] which was selected as the location of the library after a bitter fight with Cardiff, partly because a collection was already available in the College. Sir John Williams, physician and book collector, had also said he would present his collection (in particular, the Peniarth collection of manuscripts) to the library if it were established in Aberystwyth. He also eventually gave £20,000 to build and establish the library. Cardiff was eventually selected as the location of the National Museum of Wales. Funds for both the National Library and the National Museum were contributed by the subscriptions of the working classes, which was unusual in the establishment of such institutions. In a Prefatory Note to A List of Subscribers to the Building Fund (1924), the first librarian, John Ballinger, estimates that there were almost 110,000 contributors.[12] The Library and Museum were established by Royal Charter on 19 March 1907.[11][13] The Charter stipulated that if the National Library of Wales should be removed from Aberystwyth then the manuscripts donated by Sir John Williams will become the property of the University College.[12][14] A new Royal Charter was granted in 2006.
The National Library of Wales was granted the privilege of legal deposit under the Copyright Act 1911. Initially, however, the Library could only claim material deemed to be of Welsh and Celtic interest without any restrictions on expensive or limited edition publications.[15] In 1987, the last of these restrictions were removed to make the legal deposit entitlement of the National Library of Wales equal to those of the Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, Trinity College Library, Dublin and the National Library of Scotland.[16]
The first use of the Library of Congress Classification by a library in Britain was at the National Library of Wales in 1913.[17]
