The National Library of Greece: moving into a new era

Abstract

The National Library of Greece (NLG) was founded in 1832 and during the early years of its establishment its collections were transferred and housed in various venues. In 1903, the Library moved to an imposing neoclassical marble building at the city center that stands out as one of Athens landmarks. In 2006, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation announced its plans to fund the development of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center that included the construction of new facilities for the National Library and the National Opera, as well as the Stavros Niarchos Park. This significant project is now completed and the NLG, after more than a century, is ready to move once again. By fall 2017, all collections will be transferred to the new 22,000 m² facilities that provide suitable conditions and modern infrastructure for the preservation, digitization and use if its collections. Thus, in 2016, the pace of preparation for the transfer of collections has been intensified.

This paper discusses the preservation planning and actions regarding the transfer of collections. This massive endeavor includes a wide range of projects that attend to preservation, such as preparatory actions, risk assessment management, remedial and preventive conservation actions, packing and finally the transfer and reorganization of the library collections to their new facilities.