National Library of Scotland

The National Library of Scotland is a key institution with a mission to preserve and share Scotland's national cultural heritage and thereby support research, learning and discovery. Although officially established in 1925, it has its roots in the historic Advocates Library, founded in 1689 and gaining "legal collection" status in 1710, with the right to a copy of every publication printed in the United Kingdom. Maintaining this status today, the library hosts a huge collection of more than 34 million physical and digital items, including books, manuscripts, newspapers, musical scores and huge map archives. Among the most valuable pieces of this rich collection are the Gutenberg Bible, Shakespeare's First Folio, and original manuscripts by Scottish literary giants such as Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott. The library, whose main building is in Edinburgh, also leads the way in digitizing a large part of its collections and making them available for global access.