National Library of Uzbekistan “Alisher Navoi”

The library was founded in 1870 as the Tashkent Public Library. The Ministry of Public Education, the Academy of Sciences, the Public Library, the Geographical Society, and the General Staff of Russia assisted in organizing the library's collection by donating duplicate editions from their book depositories. By May 1870, more than 2200 volumes (1200 titles) had been collected, which formed the book core of the future library.

Its manuscript fund by 1917 was 250 volumes. During this period the first lithographic books published in the lithographs of Khiva and Tashkent were also purchased. These are lithographs of "Hamsa" by A. Navoi (1880), "Diwani Munis", "Diwani Raji", the work of the famous poet of the XVIII century Sufi Allayar "Stability of the weak" and many others.

In 1920, the library was given the status of a "state" library. From this year on the library began to receive obligatory copies of all publications published in the territory of Turkestan region. In 1925, the library's collection amounted to 140,000 storage pieces.

As a result of the separation of the Central Asian republics, the library remained subordinate to the People's Commissariat of Uzbekistan and provided practical assistance to the newly created Central Asian republics in the organization of librarianship.

By a decision of the Government of Uzbekistan, the State Public Library in Tashkent was declared the Central Depository of Oriental Manuscripts of the republic in 1933.

After the Second World War, the main task of the library was to replenish the book collections. Books from Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia began to arrive. Friendship ties with libraries of Great Britain, USA, France, Germany, Japan, etc. were established.

In 1948, the library was named after the great Uzbek poet and thinker Alisher Navoi and opened a new three-story building with reading rooms for 350 seats. At the same time, the department of rare and ancient publications was organized, where 2 thousand books were collected, including 250 with autographs, 151 - with ex libris. Now this fund counts more than 16 thousand copies.

In the 1980s, special attention was paid to the replenishment of the collection with literature in the Uzbek language. Now it has over 600,000 copies. - Works by classics of Uzbek literature, such as Al-Biruni, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Mirzo Ulugbek, Alisher Navoi, Furkat, Mukimi, Zavqy, as well as works by contemporary scholars and writers of the republic.

The next important period in the history of the library begins in 2002, when the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On improving the organization of research activities" was issued on February 20, 2002. Paragraph 8 of the Decree adopted the proposal of scientific institutions and departments of the Republic to establish the National Library of Uzbekistan named after Alisher Navoi by uniting the State Library of the Republic of Uzbekistan named after M.V. Lomonosov with the State Library of the Republic of Uzbekistan named after M.M. Lomonosov. The National Library of the Republic of Uzbekistan named after Alisher Navoi and the National Scientific and Technical Library of the Republic of Uzbekistan are subordinate to the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

In April 2002, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted Decision No. 123 of 12 April 2002 on the establishment of the Alisher Navoi National Library of Uzbekistan. The Cabinet of Ministers defined the status of the library as the main State book depository for the national and foreign press, a multifunctional library information and research institution and a methodological center for all libraries in the country.

In accordance with the Cabinet of Ministers Decision "On Approval of the Regulation on the Agency for Press and Information of Uzbekistan and improvement of its activities" of 30 December 2017, the National Library of Uzbekistan named after Alisher Navoi was included in the structure of the Agency.

Presidential Decree of 2 February 2019 on the establishment of the Agency of Information and Mass Communications under the Administration of the President has been designated as the authorized body to support the library's information activities. In this regard, the National Library of Uzbekistan was assigned new tasks.

The Alisher Navoi Library is now a coordination and methodological center for all information and library institutions in the country. The Republican Methodological Council, which was set up under the auspices of the library, develops recommendations for improving the work of libraries through the introduction of information and communication technologies, contributes to the development of regulations on their functioning, and provides methodological and other manuals to individual libraries.

Director: Teshaboeva Umida Alimjanovna

Reception days: Monday-Friday, 8:00 - 11:00.

Address: 100017 Toshkent, Navoi, 1 st.

Tel: (71) 232-83-92.

Fax: (71) 239-16-58.

E-mail: info@natlib.uz

Web-site: www.natlib.uz