LIBRARIES

Libraries: translation

Libraries were immediately added to the new universi ties founded in the Northern Netherlands—at Leiden in 1575, Franekerin 1585, and Groningenin 1614. Nowadays, the Royal Li brary in The Hague functions as a scientific library, with the duty to save all relevant publications, just like all present university libraries and some provincial libraries in regions without a university nearby. The phenomenon of the public library dates back to the end of the 18th century, when one of the local branches of the many newly founded learned societies, the Maatschappij tot Nut van ’t Algemeen (Society for the Benefit of the Common Man), founded in 1784, took the initiative of establishing small libraries for the “common man.” Since about 1890, a national system of public libraries has been de veloped in towns and villages (in buildings and by means of “bib liobuses” as well). Their coordinating organization is called, since 2003, the Vereniging van Openbare Bibliotheken (VOB, Society of Public Libraries).