The country’s largest library

Discover the Austrian National Library: a modern, service-oriented centre of expertise and a popular meeting place for researchers and students.

With over 12.5 million books and artefacts (analog and digital), the Austrian National Library is the largest library in Austria. Our international reputation rests not only on our over 3.9 million books, but, especially, on the » eight collections of unique artefacts – manuscripts, incunabula, music manuscripts, photographs, maps, globes and much more.

In terms of the focus of its collections, until 1920 the library was a universal library (and this still applies to Austrian writing). Because of the » legal deposit requirement for all Austrian publications – the legal obligation to deposit copies applied to most of the empire until 1918 – we hold all Austrian writings originating from within the political borders of the time. When it comes to acquiring foreign literature, our focus today is mainly on the humanities.