National and University Library in Zagreb

The National and University Library in Zagreb is a public institution of national importance, which conducts library activities and provides reference services as the national library of the Republic of Croatia and the central library of the largest Croatian university, the University of Zagreb. The Library also carries out scientific, research and development activities with the primary purpose of organizing and developing the Croatian library system.

As the central Croatian library, its fundamental mission is to provide professional supervision  and guidance as well as to organize and develop the library network in the Republic of Croatia, to promote professional work in libraries following the principles of contemporary library theory and practice, in order to ensure high quality of library activities in science, education, culture as well as in the society in general. Supervising the work of university/higher education/special libraries, public libraries, school libraries and heritage libraries is among Library’s main activities. Cooperating with more than 1300 schools, the Library monitors the work of school libraries helping them develop into intellectual, information and cultural centres of their schools. Cooperation with public libraries and their children departments includes organizing various workshops and seminars in order to promote reading and develop creativity and critical thinking.

The Library has a strong role in supporting the scientific work and developing the scientific communication of the Croatian academic community. Also, due to its role as a public institution, the Library expands its activities by cooperating with NGO-s with the aim to connect and unite the scientific community and the civil society.

The Library advocates open access, delivers metadata to Europeana and cooperates with a number of institutions with the aim to bring together digital content and foster the availability of cultural and scientific heritage. The Library was among the first institutions that were involved in the creation of the International Children’s Digital Library – ICDL.