"A national library is a library established by a government as a country´s preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant works. A national library is that library which has the duty of collecting and preserving the literature of the nation within and outside the country. Thus, national libraries are those libraries whose community is the nation at large. Examples include the British Library, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.
There are wider definitions of a national library, putting less emphasis to the repository character." - (en.wikipedia.org 21.05.2021)
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