THE NATIONAL LIBRARY CAMPUSES: THEN AND NOW.

NATIONAL libraries; GOVERNMENT libraries; SOMERSET, Charles; LIBRARIES & state; ASSOCIATIONS, institutions, etc.; LIBRARY reference services; RECORDS management; INFORMATION literacy

The article offers information on the evolution and development of the national library campuses in South Africa. The former South African Library, now known as Cape Town Campus of the National Library of South Africa (NLSA), is the oldest library in the country that was established by Lord Charles Somerset, the Governor of the Cape Colony, in 1818, when he issued a proclamation stipulating that a wine tax would be levied as a means of providing knowledge within the reach of the youth of the remote corner of the world. The Centre for the Book was established in Cape Town in 1998, incorporated as a specialist unit of the NLSA in 1999. Presented are the details of the issue.