The National Library of South Africa (NLSA) is the custodian of South Africa's collective national heritage materials and the national depository of published output materials in the country. The NLSA is mandated by the National Library of South Africa Act to collect and preserve published documents and make them accessible to all and to ensure that knowledge is not lost to posterity. The National Library of South Africa, as we know it today, was formed on 1 November 1999 as a result of the amalgamation of the two former national libraries: the South African Library in Cape Town and the State Library in Pretoria. The collections of the NLSA contain a wealth of information, including rare manuscripts, books published in South Africa, periodicals, government publications, official foreign publications, maps, technical reports, Africana and newspapers.