The readers’ cards are:
- permanent cards – they are issued for a period of one year
- monthly cards
- weekly cards
- daily cards
In order to obtain a library card you will need the following:
- To present an identity document;
- To pay a fee according to a services price list as approved by the Director of the National Library.
The terms for obtaining a reader card are specified in the Consumer Services Rules of the National Library.
For children up to 18 years, a Declaration of Informed Consent for the Use of Personal Data of Minors shall be filled in.
The registration of the readers and the issuance of readers’ cards is made at the Registration Desk.
Document scanning services of original library documents according to the established order (Xerox Copy) are performed at the Copy Centre, the price of the individual digital copy being determined by the type and period of creation of the original document.
At the Digital Centre the following services are performed:
– providing a copy of already digitized documents – on a CD.
- Ordering Xerox copies of library materials is available to all readers.
- The library materials for copying are requested by the readers according to the established library rules. The desk assistant in the reading room writes down in the reader request form the number of books the reader wants to copy. The copy centre staff makes copies based on the information entered in the reader request form.
- It is possible also to copy parts of books supplied by the interlibrary loan service. Copying is done according to the established rules for photocopying library materials.
- Library materials that have undergone chemical treatment shall be scanned.
- Newspapers bound into annual volumes shall be scanned.
- The prices for copying services are specified in the Price List for the services, provided by the National Library.
Business hours:
Monday – Friday: 9.00 – 20.00
Saturday: 11.00 – 17.00
On weekdays, photocopying requests are accepted until 19:00, and on Saturdays – until 16:30.
Interlibrary Loan is a specialised library service organised to meet the needs of readers from information stored in the collections of other libraries in the country and abroad.
All kinds of library documents or parts thereof may be sent through the interlibrary loan, observing the Ordinance on the Preservation and Protection of Library Collections.
The interlibrary loan requests are made:
- by using the standard request form
- by e-mail
The requests are fulfilled or resend to other libraries according to the terms specified in the User Service Rules.
The lending period for the documents is 1 month, with the loan period being shortened or extended at the discretion of the Head of the Department.
The cost of sending the materials is borne by the library that made the request.
The international interlibrary loan is done under the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) rules.
Requests of our registered readers and of libraries in Sofia and in the country are fulfilled.
An obligatory condition for sending a request abroad is to verify that the item is not available in the country.
All costs associated with these requests are borne by the users.
For more information please contact:
- 02/9183 223
- ill@nationallibrary.bg
- City directories, factual and background information, bibliographic data, etc. on the basis of: printed reference books and electronic resources – bibliographic, reference, full-text and other databases
- Telephone reference service
- Responding to letters via postal mail and e-mail
- Finding legal reference material on Bulgarian and foreign legislation
- Consultations
- Thematic, bibliographical and full-text references
- Documentation packages
- Bibliographic search and electronic delivery of documents
- Searching and providing up-to-date information from newspapers on a topics requested by the readers (press clipping)
- Bibliographic directories
- Newsletters
- Bulgaria in foreign literature (Bulgarica)
Requests are submitted by completing a special form. You can also use the archive of the written bibliographic references prepared in the last five years.
The payment is based on the approved price list for the National Library services.
- For more information please contact:
- 843 24 21; 9183 extension 113, 114, 115
- spr@nationallibrary.bg
- yanachkova@nationallibrary.bg
Legal and economic information
- 9183, extension 223
- Bulgaria in foreign literature (Bulgarica)
- 9183, extension 223
- ilieva@nationallibrary.bg
The library has the following reading rooms:
- No 1 Manuscripts and archival materials, photos and old-printed publications – 2nd floor
- No 3 Universal bibliographic publications and general reference books – 1st floor
- No 4 Science Reading Room for Social Sciences – 1st floor
- No 5 Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Technical Sciences – 1st floor
- No 6 Medicine and Biological Sciences and Agricultural Sciences – 1st floor
- No 7 Library Studies, bibliography, book science and scientific information – 2nd floor
- No 8 Graphic and cartographic materials – 1st floor
- No 9 Official editions – 2nd floor
- No 10 Music publications and sound recordings
The rules for requesting library materials, their use, the obligations and responsibilities of the readers can be found in the relevant sections of the User Service Rules of the National Library.
Every registered reader of the National Library with permanent or temporary reader’s card is entitled to free use of the Internet.
Computers are available to readers every weekday from 9.00 to 18.30 in wintertime and from 9.00 to 19.00 in summertime and on Saturdays – from 9.00 to 15.00.
Time use of the Internet by a reader is up to 30 min. (or unlimited if there is no other reader).
The use of the Internet is for educational and scientific purposes only.