The main mission is to support the activity and professional development of bank staff. At the same time, the NBR Library provides information, documents and support to academic researchers and general public.

With more than 21,500 bibliographical units, the NBR Library holds one of the largest collections of economic literature countrywide, encompassing monographs, regular publications, scientific articles and expert studies covering the following topics:

• General Economics (economic theory, macroeconomics);
• Economic policy, monetary policy and financial policy;
• Central banks, commercial banks, banking;
• International economy (integration, international economic relations, international economic institutions);
• Applied economic sciences (mathematics, econometrics, statistics, IT, accounting, economic and financial modelling);
• Law and economic, financial and banking legislation;
• Economic and banking history, numismatics;
• Financial education.

History

Although no archive documents mention the setting-up of the NBR Library as such, this unit, without having an explicit status in the bank’s organisation chart, is supposed to have been established when the books purchased in order to meet needs of the staff had to be arranged in accordance with certain criteria.

In 1890, when the Old Palace in Lipscani Street was inaugurated, there was a special room hosting the Library. Moreover, in 1919, governor Ioan G. Bibicescu, a passionate bibliophile, called upon a librarian working at the Library of the Romanian Academy to help take stock of the books and reorganise the NBR book fund.

During the interwar period the book stock expanded considerably to include both Romanian and foreign economic literature, mainly in French, English and German, and a large part of those books are still available for readers nowadays. Starting in 1929, the Library became subordinated to the Research Division.

Worth mentioning is the complete collection of the first regular publication printed by the National Bank of Romania, i.e. the Reports of the Board to the General Meeting of Shareholders (1881-1947). Another notable collection is the Bulletin d’information et de documentation, which was edited in both French and German between 1929 and 1947. Moreover, of particular value are the papers published by the NBR in the first series of the collection titled Biblioteca monetară, economică şi financiară (Monetary, Economic and Financial Library) that was established back in 1936. Although it was discontinued in 1942, the collection was resumed in 1992 under the title Biblioteca Băncii Naţionale a României (The Library of the National Bank of Romania), with its two series comprising both Romanian and foreign specialised studies.

During the first years of the communist regime, the books by undesirable authors or featuring inappropriate topics were simply removed from the NBR Library, a process which at that time was commonplace in the entire public library system across the country. Until 1989, the procurement policy was focused almost completely on Romanian economic literature, whereas purchases of foreign books were extremely scarce.

Since 1990, when the National Bank of Romania resumed its central bank tasks, the Library’s activity has seen a spectacular rebound. The stock of old books was reorganised according to modern biblioteconomy criteria and the procurement policy became oriented not only towards creating a substantial collection of Romanian economic literature, but also towards the purchase of the most recent and significant works on dedicated topics from all around the world.

In 2008, the NBR Library was moved in the Old Palace. It currently has a study hall which can accommodate up to 20 readers and is equipped with free Internet access computers.