National Archives and Library of Ethiopia

The National Archives and Library of Ethiopia, located in Addis Ababa, is the national library and archives of the country. The library was inaugurated in 1944 by Emperor Haile Selassie and began service with books donated by the emperor.^[2]

National Archives and Library of Ethiopia
የኢትዮጵያ ብሄራዊ ቤተ- መዛግብት እና ቤተ- መጽሃፍት
Location	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Type	National library
Established	1944
Reference to legal mandate	Proclamation No. 179/1999
Collection
Items collected	books, periodical literature, microform, photographs, manuscript, research paper
Legal deposit	yes
Access and use
Population served	researchers, government and nongovernment organizations, employees, students [nb 1]
Other information
Director	Yikunnoamlak Mezgebu
Website	http://www.nala.gov.et

Overview

In 1976, proclamation No. 50/76 gave the library the legal right to collect three copies of every material published in the country.^{[citation needed]} In 1999, the library was reestablished by proclamation no. 179.1999 as a national institution, which resulted in structural changes and the mission to be one of the top five national libraries and archives in Africa by 2020.^[2] It is currently a unit of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The archives was established in 1979, and its collection includes ancient and historical manuscripts written from as early as the 14th and 15th centuries. ^[3] It started functioning with archives from the Ministry of the Grand Palace, Palace of the Crown Prince, and others. The archive includes letters written by several kings, empresses, and princes.

See also

• Ethiopian historiography
• Unesco Memory of the World Register – Africa
• List of national archives

Notes

1. According to the United Nations, as of 2007 approximately 38 percent of adult Ethiopians are literate.^[1]