The Nobel Library ( sv, Nobelbiblioteket or, officially, sv, Svenska Akademiens Nobelbibliotek, e.g. "Nobel Library of the Swedish Academy") is the

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

of the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy ( sv, Svenska Akademien), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III of Sweden, Gustav III, is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish lang ...

instituted to assist the evaluation of

Nobel laureates The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make ou ...

to the Prize in Literature and other awards granted by the academy. The library is located in the so-called Stock Exchange Building ( sv, Börshuset) at 4,

Källargränd Källargränd is an alley in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden, connecting Slottsbacken, the slope south of the Royal Palace, to the square Stortorget. It forms a parallel street to Trångsund and is intercepted by Trädgå ...

, a short alley passing between

Slottsbacken Slottsbacken (, "Castle Slope") is a street in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. It stretches east from the Stockholm Cathedral and the Royal Palace down to the street Skeppsbron which passes along the eastern waterfront o ...

and

Stortorget Stortorget (, "the Grand Square") is a public square in Gamla Stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is the oldest square in Stockholm, the historical centre on which the medieval urban conglomeration gradually came into being. To ...

Gamla stan Gamla stan (, "The Old Town"), until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna ("The Town between the Bridges"), is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. Officially, but not colloquially, Gamla stan ...

, the old town in central

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Since its foundation in 1901, the primary task of the library is to acquire literary works and journals needed for the evaluation of the laureates, a task achieved by collecting works mainly in other languages than Swedish. , the collection encompasses some 200,000 volumes and is thus one of the largest libraries devoted to

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

in northern Europe. The library is offering loans to the general public and to other libraries in

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

, as well as guided tours on request, lectures, and seminars. The library was founded on November 16, 1901 in connection to the inauguration of the Nobel Institute of the Swedish Academy. It was first accommodated in a ten-room-flat at

Norra Bantorget Norra Bantorget ("Northern Railway Square") is an area in central Stockholm, named after the location where the first Stockholm North Station was built. It is the traditional Social Democratic grounds of the Swedish capital. It is the location o ...

in a building designed by

Ferdinand Boberg Gustaf Ferdinand Boberg (11 April 1860 – 7 May 1946) was a Swedish architect. Biography Boberg was born in Falun. He became one of the most productive and prominent architects of Stockholm around the turn of the 20th century. Among his most ...

, the so-called LO-borgen today accommodating the

Swedish Trade Union Confederation The Swedish Trade Union Confederation ( sv, Landsorganisationen i Sverige ; literally "National Organisation in Sweden"), commonly referred to as LO (), is a national trade union centre, an umbrella organisation for fourteen Swedish trade unions ...

(LO) but at the time called ''Vasaborgen'' ("The Castle of Vasa"). The collection encompassed some 15,000 literary works after five years and within two decades the library had become cramped for space and was relocated to its present address.

See also