Largest Libraries in the World by Collection Size

Source: Wikipedia - List of the world's largest libraries

Largest Libraries in the World by Collection Size

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Key Findings

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British Library leads in Catalogued items held (millions) with 200.

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Average Catalogued items held (millions): 84.65 · median: 49.60.

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Gap: British Library is 4.9× larger than University of California Libraries.

About This Dataset

Largest Libraries in the World by Collection Size

A library's catalogued size counts every item it holds, not just books: manuscripts, maps, recordings, photographs and periodicals all count. This chart ranks the world's largest libraries by the number of catalogued items, in millions.

Analysis

British Library in the United Kingdom is the largest library on this list with 200 million catalogued items, 1.12 times the 178 million of the Library of Congress. The 12 libraries here hold 1016 million items between them, spread across 9 countries. National libraries fill most of the chart, and the counts include manuscripts, maps, recordings and periodicals rather than books alone - which is why the totals run so far above what any shelf count would suggest. The smallest collection shown, University of California Libraries, still holds 41 million items.

Data Insights Below

Data Insights

Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart

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Data Points

12 categories · 1 year

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Top Value

200

British Library

Catalogued items held (millions) · All Time

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Metrics

Catalogued items held (millions)

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Period

All Time

Single year snapshot

Methodology & source

Data source: Wikipedia - List of the world's largest libraries
Coverage: 12 entities · 12 observations
Measure: Catalogued items held (millions)
Last updated: 10 September 2026
Compiled by: The ANYSTAT team, from the source above

How the figures are calculated

Values use the measure and unit named on this page. Consult the dataset description and cited source for coverage, definitions and any unit conversions. Displayed values may be rounded for readability.
Entities are ranked highest-first on their value.

Rankings & Full Data

12 records · Catalogued items held (millions) · ranked by All Time

✓ 12 sourced

#	Category	All Time
🥇	British Library	200
🥈	Library of Congress	178
🥉	Nation's Library (Turkey)	141.70
4	Russian State Library	126.10
5	Shanghai Library	58
6	New York Public Library	55
7	National Library of China	44.20
8	National Diet Library	44.10
9	German National Library	43.70
10	Royal Library, Denmark	42.50
11	Bibliothèque nationale de France	41.70
12	University of California Libraries	40.80

Data Sources & References

All external sources cited in this dataset

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_world%27s_largest_libraries Visit ↗

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APA

ANYSTAT. (2026). Largest Libraries in the World by Collection Size [Data set]. Data: Wikipedia - List of the world's largest libraries. https://anystat.ai/stats/1713/largest-libraries-in-the-world-by-collection-size-1788986034

MLA

"Largest Libraries in the World by Collection Size." ANYSTAT, 10 Sep. 2026, https://anystat.ai/stats/1713/largest-libraries-in-the-world-by-collection-size-1788986034.

Link for your website

<a href="https://anystat.ai/stats/1713/largest-libraries-in-the-world-by-collection-size-1788986034">Largest Libraries in the World by Collection Size</a> (ANYSTAT)

Largest Libraries in the World by Collection Size