Purchases
The acquisition budget of the National Library is limited. We primarily purchase foreign research literature and foreign material with a Swedish connection, the so called Suecana.
Foreign research literature
The National Library of Sweden is a research library within the humanities and social sciences. The Library’s objective is to build a representative collection of material in these fields. This foremost means literature which contributes to placing Sweden in a European and global context.
Purchase priorities
- Reference literature, e.g. bibliographies, encyclopaedias, dictionaries and older official written records and documents.
- Literature which supports the study and interpretation of the collections of the National Library.
Foreign material with a Swedish connection
The National Library of Sweden collects foreign literature with a Swedish connection. We call this material "Suecana" which means “Swedish” in Latin. Our Suecana-collection mainly consists of books, but also film, music and computer games.
The Legal Deposit Act, giving the National Library the right to receive a copy of everything published in Sweden, does not include Suecana. This makes us reliant on donations and acquisitions in order to build the collection.