Founded in 1931, the Belgrade City Library has gone through many changes throughout history. During World War II, even though the old building and a valuable part of the collection were damaged, the library was open to the public throughout this time. After the War, the library developed by creating new organizational plans, opening new divisions, founding a professional center for libraries in Belgrade and striving to form a unique network of all public libraries in the city.

Today, Belgrade City Library represents the largest public library system in Southeastern Europe with 250 employees, covering over 70 locations throughout the City of Belgrade. Being a parent library for a network of 13 municipal libraries and their branches, BCL has a special responsibility to reach out and change widespread public opinion that defines a library more traditionally - as a collection of books. In the past several years, the BCL has been proactively involved in redefining the role and perception of the libraries and striving to reach out to more and more patrons each year.

Our mission today is to focus on the ways in which the values of librarianship and the trust the community places in our library could reinforce a positive image.

Belgrade City Library (BCL) is the largest lending library in Serbia.  It is a parent library for a network of 13 municipal libraries and their branches. Its holdings consist of almost 1.800.000 items, kept about 70 facilities (1 central building with 4 dislocated facilities, 13 municipal libraries with 50 branch libraries, and 2 separate children's departments) with a total area of 13.000 square meters. BCL has more than 150,000 users. The Library has about 250 employees. As a public institution it is financed by City budget.

BCL is a patron library to more than 400 libraries (school, public and special) in Belgrade territory.

The Central library is placed in one of the finest buildings in Belgrade, at the beginning of the pedestrian zone of Knez Mihailova street. It was built in 1867, at the very entry to Kalemegdan park, as “Serbian Crown” hotel. Since October 1986, the Belgrade City Library has been located at this place.

The two main mottos of the BCL are "The Library – Cultural Heart of Belgrade" and "The Library – A Place for All". This shows us that BLC’s desire is to lively participate in cultural and social life of the city, as well as that it is open to all types of services and activities, to every need of its citizens.

BCL is one of the main cultural and educational center of the city. Each year BCL organizes over 3000 cultural events and various educational and entertaining programs, workshops, seminars, conferences, trainings, exhibitions; Also, BCL provides an open access to its physical and electronic collections and information, and to its services; offers new concepts like "Technoteka", a collaborative work space inside the Library for making, learning, exploring and sharing that uses high tech (3D printers, Lego Education robots...).

In our two departments – Department for Old and Rare Books and Books on Belgrade and Periodical Department – we have a great collection of rare books, magazines, photos and other material. In Department for old and rare books. Presently, the Department for Old and Rare Books and Books on Belgrade holds more than 20,000 titles. In these holdings, Belgrade is either the main topic or is mentioned in some important context. This includes literary and scientific works on the City, domestic and foreign, travel books, documents, testimonials, address books, almanacs, calendars, works on economics, utilities, construction and social issues, publications issued by City organizations, and the like. Special attention is paid to the Holdings of old and rare books which contain editions printed up to 1918, regardless of whether they were printed in Belgrade or elsewhere.

BCL’s vision is to be a center of knowledge, culture and fun in Belgrade, the leading public library in Serbia, and a member of European public libraries’ family. Our librarians created our mission:

Library.

A place for everyone.

Stories of the world.

Information you seek.

Communication that connects.

A friendship that lasts.