Publications of the National Library

 National Bibligraphies

Current National Bibliography:

The national bibliography was published for the first time in 1970, and then again in 1977. Since 1978, this publication has been produced annually and indexes national publications deposited at the National Library.

Retrospective National Bibliography:

The National Library has published three retrospective national bibliographies from 1974 to 1977.

National Bibliography of Periodicals:

The retrospective bibliographies were published in 1975. The first is general in scope and indexes Arabic language periodicals. The second is specific and only covers scientific periodicals.

 Catalogs

Acquisition Catalog:

First issued in 1966, this catalog lists the acquisitions of the National Library. It is organized by type of gift, exchange, legal deposit, in addition to expensive acquisitions.

Manuscript Catalog:

In 1975, the Manuscript Department at the National Library started its catalog and the publication of its collection. Nine volumes, each cataloging 1000 manuscripts, have been published so far.

Africana:

This catalog lists materials relevant to Africa and reproduces a portion of the National Library’s indices.

Catalog of Arabic authors:

One catalog in 16 volumes, published in 1982, with the intention of replacing the former wooden index that held the National Library’s pre-1966 acquisition information.

Specialized catalog:

The National Library initiated this type of publication in 1974, with a thematic emphasis on Arabic-Islamic culture.

Collective Periodical Catalog:

The first catalog, and the most important, was published in two volumes in 1975 and 1976. It was published in conjunction with the National Center of Agricultural Documentation (CNDA). Two other catalogs were published in 1985. The first indexes Tunisian periodicals registered with the International Serials Data System (I.S.D.S.) that have an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number). The second is a catalog of the Arabic language collection of Tunisian and foreign periodicals that are held at the National Library.

 Directory

Directory of Bibliographical Units:

This directory is the only one published which identifies all of the bibliographical institutions in Tunisia. Published by the National Library initially in December 1977, it lists the different bibliographical institutions in Tunisia (libraries, documentation centers, etc). An updated version is currently being prepared for publication.

Arabic Bulletin of Publications:

The National Library enlarged and published the “Arabic Bulletin of Publications” in collaboration with ALECSO (Arabic Organization for Education, Culture, and Sciences). It consists of a bibliographical directory that lists monographs, university dissertations, children’s books, and official publications that have been published in Arabic countries, with the exception of Egypt.

 Specialized Bibliographies

The National Library has produced many collections of specialized bibliographies. These bibliographies cover a variety of subjects, often relating to biographies of scholars, national and international literary cultural heritage, monographs on cities.

 Annotated Monographs

These publications are economically-related. The two titles that have been published thus far concern the following two events: President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s accession to power, and the commemoration and building of the most important mosque in Tunisia (Zitouna Mosque).

 Facsimile reproductions

As a result of scanners and digitization, the National Library has reproduced several titles, notably the Official Journal dating from 1860 (Arraïd Attounsi), the first Tunisian constitution (Ahd al Emen) and a humorous Tunisian journal from the 1930s (Ech-Chabab).

 Professional Documents

These publications are printed by the National Library in order to present its missions and tasks, as well as methods and standards used to accomplish the Library’s goals, in addition to facilitating cooperation between librarians and patrons in a standardized and professional framework.

 Databases

Databases include the entirety of indices, which were retrospectively converted using the software, Access, in the UNIMARC format.  

 CD-ROMS

Electronic documents are the most recent publications of the National Library with the first being published in 2001. All of these publications are grouped in a single collection, “Virtual Library,” which consists of nine cds in Arabic, French, and English as of 2006.