National Library of Republic of Kazakhstan in Almaty

The National Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan is considered to have been established in 1910. In 1931, the library was renamed to the State Public Library of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1991, the library received its national status, thus having become publicly and nationally recognised as an object of special cultural value.

The National Library is the largest science and methodology centre for the libraries of Kazakhstan; the legal deposit library for copies of Kazakh print publications; the repository of the Committee for Control of Education and Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Masters and Doctorate theses that were defended in Kazakhstan and cover all fields of knowledge; the repository for summaries of theses for CIS countries; the repository for scientific dissertations and publications of UNESCO since 1993; the repository for publications produced under the Cultural Heritage programme since 2005; and the repository for the publications of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan since 2012.

The library has been a member of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and the Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL) since 1992, and of the Library Assembly of Eurasia (a non-profit partnership) since 1993. The library became the chair of UNESCO’s Memory of the World’s Kazakhstan National Committee in 2002 and the chair of the regional centre for the IFLA Strategic Programme on Preservation and Conservation (PAC) in 2008.

The specially designed building for the National Library was constructed in 1970 and is included in the National Cultural Heritage Register.