The Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (French pronunciation: [biblijɔtɛk e aʁʃiv nɑsjɔnal dy kebɛk]; transl.

The BNQ held the collections and furniture of the Bibliothèque Saint-Sulpice, founded by the Sulpician Order in 1915 and managed by the Government of Quebec since 1941.

In 1997, the idea of creating a Grande Bibliothèque was born out of the desire to provide widespread availability to the materials of the BNQ and of the Montreal Public Libraries Network.

The institution founded to create a major public library, called the Grande bibliothèque du Québec (GBQ), was merged with the BNQ in 2002.

This major public library was specifically designed to encourage the discovery and exploration of BAnQ's collections with free and open access.

It aims to provide democratic access to the heritage material constituted by its collections, to culture and universal knowledge, and to act, in this respect, as a catalyst for the library and information institutions of Quebec, thus contributing to the fulfillment of its citizens.

In the archival field, the institution can also provide research support services and contribute to the development and international outreach of Quebec heritage materials and expertise.

BAnQ serves as the official representative of the Agence francophone pour la numérotation internationale du livre regarding the assignment of ISBN prefixes in Quebec and Canada.

The Preservation Branch (Direction générale de la conservation) which handles this aspect of the institution's mission, operates out of BAnQ Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, in Montreal.