Top 10 libraries in the world

Library of Congress: The largest library in the world, located in Washington, D.C. The Library of Congress provides Congress with objective research to inform the legislative process, administers the national copyright system, and manages the largest collection of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in the world.

British Library: Located in London and Boston Spa, this library has a catalogued size of 170–200 million. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the American Library of Congress is the “World’s Largest Library” in terms of shelf space, but the British Library is the “World’s Largest Library” in terms of the number of books in its collection.

National Library of St. Mark: Located in Venice, this library contains a collection of classical texts. The Marciana Library or Library of Saint Mark is a public library in Venice, Italy. It is one of the earliest surviving public libraries and repositories for manuscripts in Italy and holds one of the world’s most significant collections of classical texts. It is named after St Mark, the patron saint of the city

Trinity College Library: Located in Dublin, Ireland, this library contains over 6 million printed works. The most famous of its manuscripts, the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow, were presented by Henry Jones, Bishop of Meath and former vice-chancellor of the University, in the 1660s. Other special collections include the Ussher Collection acquired in 1661 and the Fagel Collection of 1802.

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Joe and Rika Mansueto Library: Located at the University of Chicago, this library features a glass roof and climate-controlled underground storage. The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library is a storage library of the University of Chicago Library. It has a capacity of 3.5 million volumes under an elliptical dome. It was designed by Helmut Jahn, and was named after alumni Joe Mansueto and Rika Mansueto.

Bodleian Library: Located in Oxford, UK, this library dates back to 1602. The Bodleian Libraries holds the second largest collection of manuscripts and archives in Britain, with items ranging in date from papyri from the third century B.C. to contemporary correspondence and papers.

Vatican Library: Established in 1475, this library is one of the oldest in the world. Vatican Apostolic Library, official library of the Vatican, located inside the Vatican Palace. It is especially notable as one of the world’s richest manuscript depositories. The library is the direct heir of the first library of the Roman pontiffs.

Yale University Beinecke Rare Book Library: This library is dedicated to preserving rare books and manuscripts. Yale Library’s unique collections, amassed over three centuries and widely used in teaching, are a distinctive feature of a Yale education, together with the collections of Yale’s museums.

Boston Public Library: Founded in 1848, this library was the first publicly supported library in America. Established in 1848, the Boston Public Library is a pioneer of public library service in America. It was the first large free municipal library in the United States, the first public library to lend books, the first to have a branch library, and the first to have a children’s room.

New York Public Library: One of the largest libraries in the United States. Housed in research centers, NYPL’s historical collections hold such treasures as a draft of the Declaration of Independence written in Thomas Jefferson’s hand, one of the few surviving copies of the Gutenberg Bible, and original works, manuscripts, letters, and more by luminaries in literature and art.