British Library (London, UK)

The British Library amasses 150 million items, making it the largest national library by catalogue count, and holds the Magna Carta, original Beatles lyrics, and Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks. It receives 14 million online visits annually and adds 3 million items each year. Faster than the average national library, its acquisition rate is 40% higher than that of #1 Library of Congress, and its 625 kilometers of shelving span 3,000 years of human civilization. The British Library's digital catalog includes 10 million records, 25% more than the Bodleian's online offerings, all accessible to researchers for free.