About LibDex

LibDex is a free, independent index of libraries and their online catalogues. It lists 212,079 libraries in 210 countries, with websites, catalogues, contact details, opening hours and map positions.

History

LibDex began in 1996 as "webCATS", a hand-maintained list of library catalogues that could be searched over the web, compiled by Peter Scott at the University of Saskatchewan. It grew into a directory of library home pages, web catalogues, Friends of the Library groups, library weblogs and professional journals, and by the mid-2000s listed more than 18,000 libraries. The site was rebuilt in 2008 and again in 2012, and relaunched in 2026 on a new platform with search, an interactive map and moderated submissions.

Where the data comes from

Entries come from three sources: the original directory, submissions from libraries and visitors, and our own checks. Each entry records what the library or submitter told us. Opening hours, catalogue systems and item counts in particular may be out of date; the library's own website is always the authority.

Map positions are placed at town or city level using GeoNames and OpenStreetMap data unless a library has supplied exact coordinates. Maps are drawn with OpenStreetMap tiles.

Open data sources

In October 2026 the index was extended with open datasets. Each imported entry names its source on the library page. We are grateful to:

• Wikidata, the free knowledge base (CC0), for libraries worldwide.
• The U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey FY2023 outlet file (public domain).
• lobid-organisations by the hbz, built on the German ISIL registry and German Library Statistics (CC BY 4.0).
• The French Ministère de la Culture, "Adresses des bibliothèques publiques" (Licence Ouverte 2.0).
• The UK DCMS "Public libraries in England: basic dataset" (2016) and OpenDataNI library locations (Open Government Licence v3).
• The Biblioteca Nacional de España, DIBI directory (CC BY 4.0; the directory closed in 2025, so these entries are historic).
• Libraries Hacked, librarydata.uk, the current list of UK public libraries compiled from council open data (OGL v3).
• Kirjastot.fi, the Finnish library directory (CC BY 4.0).
• Canada: British Columbia public library service points (OGL-BC) and Ontario public library statistics 2023 (OGL-Ontario).
• Australia: State Library of Western Australia (CC BY) and Libraries Tasmania (CC BY 4.0).
• Ireland: library datasets of Cork, Dublin, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, Galway, Kildare, Roscommon, South Dublin, Westmeath and Wicklow councils via data.gov.ie (CC BY 4.0).
• Italy: Regione Lombardia (CC0), Regione Puglia and Regione Campania (CC BY 4.0) library registries.
• Mexico: Sistema de Información Cultural of the Secretaría de Cultura, directories of the Red Nacional de Bibliotecas Públicas and other libraries (open data, attribution required).
• Israel: Ministry of Culture and Sport, list of public libraries (data.gov.il).
• Romania: Biblioteca Națională a României, CASIDRo library database (Open Government Licence ROU 1.0).
• Croatia: Nacionalna i sveučilišna knjižnica, Upisnik knjižnica (data.gov.hr).
• Switzerland and Liechtenstein: Swiss National Library, ISIL directory (opendata.swiss).
• Norway: Nasjonalbiblioteket, Base Bibliotek, the national register of libraries (contact details limited to public ones).
• Luxembourg: bibnet.lu network members, Ministère de la Culture (CC0).
• Belgium: Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles public libraries and ARES higher-education libraries (CC BY 4.0) and City of Brussels libraries (CC BY 4.0).
• Canada, Quebec: BAnQ, Bottin des bibliothèques publiques du Québec 2024 (CC BY 4.0).
• Portugal: DGLAB, Rede Nacional de Bibliotecas Públicas statistics 2024 (CC BY).
• Hong Kong: Leisure and Cultural Services Department, "Libraries" dataset via DATA.GOV.HK.
• South Korea: 전국도서관표준데이터, the national library standard dataset published by local governments on data.go.kr.
• Turkey: İzmir Büyükşehir Belediyesi open data, libraries in İzmir province (CC BY 4.0).
• Slovakia: Ministerstvo kultúry SR, Zoznam knižníc Slovenskej republiky, the statutory register of libraries.
• Serbia: Ministry of Culture, "Установе културе – Библиотеке" (Serbian open data licence).
• Ukraine: registers of libraries and cultural institutions of Odesa, Chernivtsi and Volyn oblasts and the cities of Kyiv and Chernivtsi on data.gov.ua (CC BY).
• Lithuania: Lietuvos nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo biblioteka, list of libraries and their branches (CC BY-NC 4.0; LibDex is a non-commercial directory).
• Greece: Ministry of Education, register of public libraries 2025 (data.gov.gr).
• Slovenia: Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Razvid knjižnic, the statutory register of libraries.
• Turkey: Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, the directory of public libraries of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
• GeoNames (CC BY 4.0) for town-level coordinates.

Keeping it accurate

• Every website and catalogue link is checked automatically about once a fortnight. Links that fail are marked "unreachable when last checked" rather than removed, because many library sites are only briefly offline.
• Anyone can add a library or suggest an update from any library page.
• A person reviews every submission before it is published.
• You can report a problem with any entry.

Who runs it

LibDex is owned and operated by GW SOLUTIONS Ltd, Plovdiv, Bulgaria (VAT BG201793517), which also runs The European Library and IBAN.com. LibDex is not affiliated with any of the libraries listed, with any library association, or with any catalogue vendor. Listing is free and we do not sell placement.

Questions, corrections or data requests: see the contact page.