The National Library’s mandate has been broadened in recent years. The library has worked to digitise its collections over the past two decades, and in 2020 it was also given responsibility for digitising Norway’s cultural heritage held by Norwegian archives, libraries and museums. The mandate was further expanded in 2025, when the National Library was asked to train, update and disseminate Norwegian and Sámi language models for public use.

The National Library is recognised as a research organisation and is an important resource within the infrastructure that underpins Norwegian research. The organisation is also responsible for coordinating literary anniversaries such as the upcoming Ibsen anniversary in 2028.

The National Library is the national development body for the library sector and helps to develop and strengthen Norway’s public and research libraries. The organisation manages and allocates project and development funding for public libraries and provides national infrastructure such as the national library card, the library search portal and the shared digital service platform for libraries.

The National Library of Norway manages the Library for Accessible Literature (Tibi). Tibi provides a service to people who struggle to read printed text due to disability, and it ensures that they have the same access to information, literature and library services as the wider population. The National Library also runs the Multilingual Library, which enables libraries to offer books in multiple languages to their borrowers.

The National Library helps to implement national library policy and follows up on nationwide initiatives designed to promote reading.

In June 2026 the National Library established a new advisory committee for library services: New National Library advisory committee – Bibliotekutvikling (in Norwegian only)

Web page: https://www.nb.no/en/the-national-library-of-norway/