Björn Gunnlaugsson (1788-1876) was said to be the leading mathematician and astronomer in Iceland in his day. He was an active surveyor and cartographer and the first real teacher of mathematical learning in this country. Furthermore, he focused on informing the public about natural science, both in formal and informal terms. Björn was philosophically minded, and although he was perhaps primarily influenced by the Enlightenment, there are clear influences from romantic natural philosophy in various of his works. Einar Guðmundsson wrote an article about Björn Gunnlaugsson and his natural philosophy in Njóla in the journal Ritmennt.

In his religious and scholarly poem, Njóla, which was first published in Reykjavík in 1842, Björn weaves together various threads of faith and science in order to present a complete theory about the universe and its purpose. Njóla consists of 528 stanzas, most of which are verse poems, but a few are in a style known as gagara poetry. Njóla was very popular at the time and was published three times. Njóla's edition from 1853 with a foreword by Jón Árnason is and can be viewed on the website baekur.is.

Björn Gunnlaugsson is featured in the exhibition Faces on display, which is currently on display in the library, as well as a map of Reykjavík he made in 1834.

The reason is that in 1856 there was an expedition of Prince Jérôme Napoleon Bonaparte in Iceland who had plaster casts and busts made of six Icelanders, incl. Björn Gunnlaugsson. The purpose was to record the different variations of races and to analyze the cross-national relations that arose through racial science.

The Reykjavík map and Njóla by Björn Gunnlaugsson are the library's highlights in July. The drawing of Björn Gunnlaugsson was made by Sigurður Guðmundsson.