National Archives and Library of Ethiopia

National Archives and Library of Ethiopia (የኢትዮጵያ ብሄራዊ ቤተ- መዛግብት እና ቤተ- መጽሃፍት)
National Archives and Library of Ethiopia (የኢትዮጵያ ብሄራዊ ቤተ- መዛግብት እና ቤተ- መጽሃፍት)
Location	Addis Ababa
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
Other information
Director	Yikunnoamlak Mezgebu
Website	http://www.nala.gov.et

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]

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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.

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

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[1]
"Adult literacy rate, population 15+ years (both sexes, female, male)". UIS.Stat. Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
[2]
"About Us". Ethiopian National Archives and Library Agency. Archived from the original on 19 June 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
[3]
Hryc´ko, K. An outline of the National Archives and Library of Ethiopia. Aethiopica 2007, 10, 92–105.

HRYÚKO, Katarzyna. 2007. An Outline of the National Archives and Library of Ethiopia. Aethiopica Vol. 10: 92–105.
WION, Anaïs, "The National Archives and Library of Ethiopia: six years of Ethio-French cooperation (2001-2006)", available on Open Archive Repository HAL-SHS and to be published in the Acts of the Enno Littmann Conference, Aksum, Dec. 2005.

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"Ethiopia", World Report 2010, The Hague: International Federation of Library Associations, OCLC 225182140, Freedom of access to information (Includes information about the national library)

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