Bibliothèque nationale du Bénin

Overview

The Bibliothèque nationale du Bénin (National Library of Benin) is Benin's national legal deposit library, charged with collecting, conserving, and disseminating the country's printed, graphic, audiovisual, and oral heritage. It is a public establishment under the administrative authority of the ministry responsible for culture.

History

Created by decree N°75-308 of November 28, 1975 under the name Bibliothèque nationale du Dahomey, the library was built on collections inherited from the former Institut Français d'Afrique Noire (IFAN). It took its current name in 2014 following the country's renaming. The library operated from a building of the former National Assembly in central Porto-Novo until 1985, when it moved to purpose-built facilities in the Ouando district, near the National Archives of Benin, where it remains. Since 2021 the library has pursued a digital transformation of its services, including online legal deposit filing and a national digital catalogue.

Collections, Holdings, and Publications

The library manages Benin's legal deposit system and compiles the national bibliography, gathering Beninese and foreign collections of printed works, manuscripts, banknote and currency specimens, prints, photographs, postcards, maps and plans, musical and film works, and sound, audiovisual, and electronic documents. It also oversees Benin's public reading network and promotes interlibrary lending domestically and internationally.

Access and Usage

The library provides public reading and lending services at its Porto-Novo headquarters and coordinates a national network of public reading venues. Since 2000 it has administered ISSN assignment for Beninese serial publications, and its e-services portal allows publishers and authors to file for ISBN, ISSN, and legal deposit numbers online and access the digitized national bibliography.