The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB), the National Library of the Netherlands, and the nation's National Archives (NA) will be integrated into one organisation. This was recently decided by the Cabinet following a proposal from Secretary of State Zijlstra (OCW: Ministry of Education, Culture and Science). The integration is seen as a logical continuation of the substantial cooperation between both institutions, and is in line with the aim of the Cabinet to make the government more compact. The planned launch date for the new organisation is July 1, 2013.
The NA and the KB already work together in a number of areas. For instance, they together carry out 'Metamorfoze', the programme for the preservation of paper heritage, and have been working together for years in the area of conservation research. In 2005 the Prince of Orange opened the exhibition space, 'The Legacy of the Netherlands', where both institutions have already held a number of exhibitions of their treasures. In the course of this year, preparations have been made within both institutions to give shape to a more intense cooperation. The KB and NA wish to exploit the advantages of scale which a combination of the institutions - located in two, interconnected buildings in The Hague - offers and so together face the challenges of the digital era.
The KB is an autonomous administrative authority; the NA is an agency of OCW. To realise an administrative integration of the two an amendment of the Public Records Act and the Higher Education and Research Actare required. These will be prepared in the coming year. Eventually, both organisations will be merged into one autonomous administrative authority. The aim is to complete this path in a year and a half, with a launch date for the new organisation of July 1, 2013 as the point of departure.
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