Lviv V. Stefanyk Academic Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine was founded in 1940 on the basis of 84 institutional and private libraries from Lviv and Western region of Ukraine, namely: T.Shevchenko Scholarly Society, Narodny Dim (People’s House), ‘Prosvita’ (Enlightment) Society, the Ossolineum Scholarly Institution, the library and archive of the Stavropyhiya Fraternity, confiscated libraries of monasteries, various public institutions and societies, as well as private book collections and archives.

The Library’s holdings numbering over seven million units include unique old printed books, manuscripts, art works and publications, map and music collections, personal-library and archival collections etc. Among them are the richest in the world collection of Ukrainica of XVIII – first half of XX centuries, including Ukrainian and foreign periodicals; unique collections of incunabula, paleotypes and old printed books of XV-XIX centuries; a matchless collection of Ukrainian and foreign art: drawings, watercolours, gouaches, notated stuff, the largest in Ukraine collection of foreign composers’ works; a manuscript collection (including Ukrainica) of XIII-XX centuries.

The Lviv V.Stefanyk Academic Library is a powerful informational and scholarly centre with ten functional and eleven research divisions; the only in Ukraine Research Centre of Periodicals operates here.

The functional divisions’ tasks are preservation and acquisition of the Library holdings, informational library services, reference and bibliography services, automation and computerization of library operations, methodological guidance of all the libraries within the network of the National Academy of Sciences’ institutions functioning under its Western Science Centre etc.

The Library as a research institute aims its research efforts at book science, library science and bibliography: compilation of the national bibliography of books and periodicals, scientific and bibliographic description of the Library’s book, manuscript and art collections, book studies, research into the theory and history of journalism, music studies, editorial and publishing work.

Each year the Library publishing services print 15-20 editions – monographs, volumes of the national bibliography of books and periodicals, the Library’s annual Collected Works, bibliographic indices and other research and literary publications.

The Library organizes independently and in cooperation with other academic institutions all-Ukrainian and international conferences, symposia and exhibitions; cooperates with 94 library and scholarly institutions in the world, is engaged in extensive research-and-information activities.