The British Library takes a professional leadership role in the world's network of national libraries.

National library networks

Our Chief Executive Roly Keating is Chair of the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL). This is a network that supports and develops the role of national libraries in Europe, particularly in relation to their responsibilities to protect and share national cultural heritage.

We are also members of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL) and the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL).

The British Library works closely with Europeana. The Europeana Sounds project is one of many instances of our work with other national institutions to make European heritage material more accessible to a global audience.

Professional memberships

Association of European Research Libraries (LIBER)

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)

Specialist memberships

Our experts belong to a number of international preservation and information groups. These specialist organisations include:

• EDItEUR - trade standards body for the global book, e-book and serials supply chains
• International ISBN Agency - registration authority for the International Standard Book Number 
• Resource, Description and Access Steering Committee - responsible for maintaining the descriptive cataloguing standard (RDA)
• Digital Preservation Coalition - helps libraries provide long-term access to digital content
• Open Preservation Foundation - for the long-term management of digital cultural heritage
• BitCurator Consortium - supports the curation of born-digital materials
• International Internet Preservation Consortium (IIPC) - works to preserve information from the Internet for future generations.