The National Library of South Africa plays a leadership role in Library and Information Services (LIS) sector. It provides library resources to all communities in South Africa, including previously disadvantaged communities.

Click here to view the latest pictures

The Department of Arts and Culture is erecting a new building for the National Library of South Africa in Pretoria, which is worth more than R200-million. The project is being executed by the Department of Public Works. The National Library will gain approximately 33 000 usable square metres of space for its book collections, reading rooms and other facilities currently scattered in various Pretoria premises. The new building will also provide approximately 1800 seats for library users. The present library building can host only about 130 users. The new building will serve as a remedy for those people who queue on a daily basis to use the library services for hours on end. The new building is nearing completion.

The project will result in the establishment of the most well equipped, effective and efficient National Library in Africa. It will serve as flagship for other library institutions in the country and present itself as a centre of excellence and a symbol of upliftment for all legal deposit libraries in Africa and the world.

• A well equipped new National Library building the day it opens its doors – computers will be available for the man in the street to use and to learn, thus removing the digital divide.
• A National Library serving its purpose in providing a repository for current electronic published documents and a preservation service for all legal deposit documents in South Africa
• All communities will have a place to go for studies, reading, research and online services and will not have to queue in the streets.
• The auditorium and meeting rooms will be used for training and meetings, and the necessary audio-visual equipment will be available.
• African literature will be available in all languages for the communities.
• Information on AIDS, poverty and indigenous matters will be available for all people to use in all formats, accessible from within in a complete electronic database (OPAC).

The Cape Town campus and the Centre for the Book   are housed in buildings that are landmarks in the historical nucleus of the city.  The buildings were extensively renovated in the mid-1990s, and further repairs to the campus premises were carried out in the year under review.  However, valuable collections are housed at various other Cape Town premises.  At some of these, preservation conditions remain unsatisfactory, and solutions are being sought.

Entrance to the building will be from a raised public piazza on the corner of Struben and Andries Streets. Large double volume reading rooms, one for general study and another for specialised research, will be featured on ground level with views into spaces from the streets.

This will exhibit and reflect the use of a library to the public, therefore encouraging new users to use the facility.

The proposed modern glass and brick building reflects the dynamic future envisaged for the National Library of South Africa. Steel and covered walkways and ramps lead users from street level towards the entrance piazza, which can also be used for public exhibition and street art forms.

The images above are an artist's impression
of the building and its interior. 
Copyrighted to Jeremy Malan Architects, 2006