Together with other libraries and publishing houses, the NL is developing its electronic collection, which at the end of 2010 comprised some 10 000 publications, nearly double the holdings in 2009. Copyright protection permitting, these publications will be made available during the course of this year. The NL's collections held a total of approximately 5.3 million documents at the end of 2010. The most significant single addition was the library of Genevan cultural studies expert Jean Starobinski, comprising roughly 40 000 volumes and acquired by the NL for the Swiss Literary Archives as a gift from the Fondation Hans Wilsdorf.

New online services

The digitisation of Swiss libraries' collections proceeds, and in the spring of 2010 the Swissbib metacatalogue went online. Enabling users to search the catalogues of Swiss universities and the NL simultaneously, Swissbib offers students and researchers significant support in their work. Swissbib is a project of the Conference of Swiss University Libraries.In collaboration with European libraries, the NL's Helveticat catalogue now includes the E-Books on Demand service, allowing users to order digital reproductions of some 100 000 copyright-free books.

A platform for literary archives

KOOP-LITERA Schweiz, an internationally networked platform for literary archives in Switzerland, was established on the initiative of the Swiss Literary Archives. Thanks to its collaboration with the Zurich University of the Arts on the Archives of Place project, the Prints and Drawings Department (PDD) has gained important new insights for its future collection concept.

High user satisfaction

Users are happy with the NL, giving it an average score of 8.5 (out of 10) in a survey carried out last year. Our redesign of public areas, now completed, allows us to meet practical user requirements with such features as additional individual work booths and rooms for group work.The Swiss National Library is financed by the Swiss Confederation. Its operating costs in 2010 amounted to CHF 37.3 million.

2010 in the National Library: Innovation thanks to cooperation