Albania

The National Library of Albania (NLA) is the primary national cultural institution and the oldest in the Albanian State. The NLA occupies two buildings and is organized and functions under the authority of the Ministry of Culture. The NLA, located in Tirana, is charged as keeper of the national heritage with collecting, processing, restoring, preserving and making available to the public the written cultural heritage of the Albanian people. At the national level it organizes library education and continuing professional education, and is the study research centre in the field of librarianship, the cataloguing in publications centre, the national ISBN Agency, and the only preservation and restoration centre for special collections.