It has the second biggest library collection in the Russian Federation, a treasury of national heritage, and is the All-Russian Information, Research and Cultural Center.

Over the course of its history, the library has aimed for comprehensive acquisition of the national printed output and has provided free access to its collections.

[4] The idea of a public library in Russia emerged in the early 18th century[5] but did not take shape until the arrival of the Russian Enlightenment.

Under Count Alexander Stroganov, who managed the library during the first decade of the 19th century, the Rossica project was inaugurated, a vast collection of foreign books touching on Russia.

He, along with other bibliophiles, also reviewed the collection of manuscripts and letters brought by Peter P. Dubrowsky (1754–1816) who had stayed in the diplomatic service for more than 20 years outside the fatherland.

The influx of new visitors required a larger reading room in the new building closing the library court along the perimeter (designed by Sobolshchikov, built in 1860–62).

In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, the institution was placed under the management of Ernest Radlov and Nicholas Marr, although its national preeminence was relinquished to the Lenin State Library in Moscow.

[12] After the end of the Second World War, millions of German art objects, books and archival materials were brought to the Soviet Union.

However, to this day, among other things, there are still more than 200,000 works of art, three million books and archival material with a length of three shelf kilometers in German provenance in Russia.