National Library of Albania

The National Library of Albania (Biblioteka Kombëtare e Shqipërisë - BKSh) is Albania's most important national cultural heritage institution and serves as the main national research library; Its headquarters is in the capital Tirana. Founded on July 10, 1920 and officially opening its doors on December 10, 1922, the library is responsible for collecting, processing, restoring, preserving and making available to the public Albanian national publications. As a "legal deposit" center, it collects copies of all printed and electronic materials published in Albania. The library has an extensive collection of more than 1 million books, periodicals, maps, atlases, microfilms and other items. The core of this collection is the "Albanica" section, which contains publications about Albania and the Albanian language. BKSh also plays a key role as the country's national bibliographic registry centre, National Agency for ISBN, ISSN, ISMN and a center for professional training and research in librarianship.