The KB, national library of the Netherlands, is the country's principal cultural institution for the preservation of and access to Dutch heritage. Founded in 1798 and headquartered in The Hague, it ranks among Europe's oldest national libraries. Its remit spans both a physical collection - books, newspapers, magazines, manuscripts and maps totalling roughly 122 kilometres of material - and an online digital resource supporting research, reading and lifelong learning across the Netherlands.
For technologists, the institution's digital operations are the point of interest. The KB works across digital preservation, digital archiving, web archiving, library science, and information access and discovery. Its e-Depot system, launched in 2002, was the world's first institutional digital archive for publications and now holds more than 40 million digital publications, a figure that continues to grow. A web archiving initiative running since the 1990s collects Dutch digital publications and websites.
The work sits at the intersection of cultural heritage, libraries and archives, research and academia, education, and publishing and digital media. The KB describes itself as mission-driven and public-access oriented, with a stated commitment to the long-term preservation of national heritage and to bringing research and discovery within reach of everyone in the Netherlands.
