The role of the National Collection is:
To collect everything that has been printed in Iceland from the beginning, and also foreign printed material about Iceland and Icelanders. The Library is a legal deposit library, which means that it receives copies of all Icelandic material.
To preserve the nation’s cultural heritage that has been placed in the Library’s keeping, and to give it the best possible care.
To make this heritage accessible to those who do research in fields concerning Iceland and Icelanders, or who want to enjoy Icelandic books as historical objects and cultural artefacts.
Service desk and information services
If you need material from the National Collection, ask the librarian at the service desk in the entrance hall. Material is not lent out of the National Collection; it is only for use in the reading room, so that it is always available.
On weekdays, material is not fetched from the basement storerooms after 16:00. Staff give priority to helping visitors with all kinds of information searching on Icelandic subjects and to easing their access to printed works.
Staff also answer enquiries by telephone and e-mail. Please sign the guest book, and leave your coat in the cloakroom and your bag in a locker in the entrance hall.
National Collection opening hours
Reading room
Visitors to the National Collection can work in the reading room, which it shares with the Manuscript Collection. The reading room has about 50 desks, four of them with computers giving access to the Library’s information system. You can also work on your own computer at any desk. The reference collection in the room is aimed mainly at Icelandic studies: works on literature, history and local history, folklore, genealogy, dictionaries, general reference works and various Icelandic and foreign journals, as well as Hæstaréttardómar (the rulings of the Supreme Court), Alþingistíðindi (the parliamentary records) and Stjórnartíðindi (the official gazette). Desks must be cleared when you leave the room. If you wish, material can be kept for you in lockers in the National Collection’s entrance hall for the next few days.