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Ancient Greek Libraries
The word library comes from the Greek βιβλιοθήκη, composed of βιβλίον pronounced "biblíon", meaning book and θήκη pronounced théke, meaning "box, store, receptacle, wardrobe… ”.  Additionally, βιβλίον or βίβλος can also mean leaf of papyrus, which was used in the Greek Egyptian world to write on. The  word "library" is a Greek invention, illustrated by the most famous library in History, the "Library of Alexandria".  The library as a storage institution of general knowledge that can be shared with others can be attributed to Ancient Greek ideologies about educatio- and disseminating of knowledge..

The first mention of libraries in Ancient Greece is found in the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations. The first library in Athens, the Library of Peisistratos, dates to around 560 B.C.E. and is touted as being the first public library in Athens. Later, in the Third Century B.C.E., Ptolemy II Philadelphus, ruler of Egypt, founded the famous Library of Alexandria. At this time, royal libraries were collecting and storing large numbers of books and materials. As the Romans began to take over, they often incorporated cultural ideals and practices from the Greeks as much as the land they acquired. Rome used the Greek precedent to create large public libraries and private book collections by the wealthy. The The Byzantine Empire saw the founding of the first Imperial library in Constantinople in the Fourth Century C.E. However, most of the libraries during this time were monastic such as Mount Athos, Meteora, and Patmos.

The Library at Alexandria
The library at Alexandria, founded by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, around the start of the 3rd century BCE, was one of the royal libraries being established in the ancient world. The Library at Alexandria housed thousands of volumes acquired by collectors, state agents, and even by force. The scholars who worked in the Library at Alexandria maintained the collection, eventually building the Serapeum, or "daughter library" to house copies of the items in the main library. These scholar-librarians created many methods and techniques still used today in library science, including alphabetical order, glossary, and other bibliographic tools.

The National Library of Greece
After the liberation of Greece from the Ottoman Empire in 1821, the National Library of Greece was created. At this time, Aigina was the capitol and the national library operated there from 1829 to 1834. The National Library of Greece then moved to Athens, the new capital of Greece. It was incorporated into the University of Athens library in 1837, which then merged into the "Ethnic Vivliothiki til Ellados" or the National Library of Greece, in 1866. From the early 1900s, it was housed in a building designed by Theophil Hansen, a Danish architect. In June of 2007, an alliance was forged between the Greek State and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation to construct a new building.

The National Library of Greece operates under the Greek Ministry of National Education and is held to a framework dictated by law. It holds over 5 million items and acts as the main legal deposit institution in Greece, The NLG also assigns ISBN, ISSN, and ISMN numbers as well as publishing the National Bibliography. . The NLG has also translated subject headings from the Library of Congress and applied them to their catalog,

The mission of the National Library of Greece is as follows:

Mission

"-to perpetually trace, collect, organise, document, preserve and safeguard scientific and cultural documents, created in Greece or internationally and related to Hellenism in its diachronic evolution and perception by other cultures,

– to ensure open and equal access to any interested party, driven by freedom of knowledge, information and research."

The Vision of the National Library of Greece is as follows:

Vision

"-to constitute an international center of excellence for the study of Hellenism and for the preservation and dissemination of Greek culture."

As of 2021, the National Library of Greece houses over 1 million physical resources, 300 million electronic resources, and 15, 217 newspaper and magazine titles. The NLG also houses special collections of 5,500 manuscripts from the 9th to the 20th Century, 20,000 rare books, 4,000 works of art, and many more historic documents. The NLS also holds a small collection of papyri, maps, and more.