Royal Library of Belgium — Local services in Brussels

One of the best libraries in Belgium concerning the sheer volume of researchable sources. Are actually up with the trend of digitizing their collection, something Leuven doesn't do.

Of course the entrance fee depends on what you need. if you re a student you probably pay 10 euros for a year, while if you just want to visit it you have to pay 5 euros a day. Choice is easy to make if i say so myself.

The reason that people aren't allowed to take water or drinks with them is that you can request ALL MATERIAL you want ( from 1100s manuscripts to modern day books). If someone spills water on it these manuscripts and books are ruined. Bit ignorant for people to say " well i cant take water with me so this is a bad library". If memory serves water is available for free so you are complaining about what exactly? you only have to take a couple steps to get it. In most other EU and outside the EU libraries you can't bring you water either and only a handful provide free drinking water so.... First and foremost it is a library after all not some study hall for opinionated children to muck about.

Then you have people complaining about " you can't take your things with you". That is a bold faced lie. You can take whatever you want with you, even laptop, just not water or other liquids. Hell they even allow you to bring a bag with you, all they ask then is for them to inspect it. As for the argument" the lockers are on a different floor", so are they in Leuven and other places. Leuven on the other hand has some weird locking mechanism and the lockers are way smaller than the ones in the Royal Library in Brussels. Add to that that you have things to hang your jacket on INSIDE the locker is a huge plus.

They also have wonderful exhibits which are all multi lingual. Most of the staff is also multi lingual which is rather rare in other libraries.

In short a wonderful library with friendly staff. There is also a lot of security but that is due to the fact of the priceless manuscripts and the rather expensive/rare books in the collection. plus it is Brussels you need to protect your property.

If you just go to the library to study i suggest you just go to your local library and let the places that are there for the real researchers and students from university....

I like this library for it being warm and luminous and having comfortable chairs. It is theoretically a pleasant place to study. However, there are several reasons why I still prefer commuting to Leuven everyday instead of using KBR.

First of all, the lockers are too far away from the working area. They're on another floor! It would be nice of them if they at least provided a basket to put in our stuff.

What's more, they don't even allow mineral water in the bottle(which most other libraries do) so you have to travel downstairs to have a sip of your bottle.

Third, the seat arrangement. I understand they want to keep the library organized so they prefer arranging the seat for you by themselves. However, not being able to choose randomly a nice seat in an almost empty library can be quite disappointing.

Last but not least, the chance of having a decent wi-fi connection is dismal. No printer to use, either.

Besides, there is this annoying boy working in the cafeteria who keeps saying 'Hi' in Japanese while giggling, just because I...

Being a german, this is probably the most bureaucratic proceedure I've ever had to undertake in order to visit a library. You cannot enter the reading room without a card, the pricing being quite "royal" indeed with 5€ per day or 15€ per year as a student. You are not allowed to enter with a backpack, it is not permitted to bring bottled water inside. After trading your library ID with another card upon entering, you need to get a another card in exchange for the new one at another desk (permit A38?) if you want to leave the reading room for a quick break. It does have Eduroam and the atmosphere is enjoyable, however spoiled by the complexity of the...