The National Free Library of Zimbabwe was founded in 1943 in Bulawayo as a national lending library and center for interlibrary loans. It has over 100,000 volumes. Also in Bulawayo is the Public Library, with 100,000 volumes. Other libraries include the Harare City Library, with 200,000 volumes, the Turner Memorial Library in Mutare, the Library of Parliament, and libraries in more than a dozen smaller towns. The National Archives of Zimbabwe, located in Harare, receives a copy of every book published in Zimbabwe, as does the Bulawayo Public Library. There were more than 150,000 registered public library users using 76 public libraries holding 1.1 million volumes in 1989. The library at the University of Zimbabwe is the largest in the country, with 500,000 volumes in the main library and branches. The Parliament of Zimbabwe holds a collection of 115,000 volumes.
In 1990, 100,000 people visited Zimbabwe's 11 museums. The Zimbabwe Museum of Natural History (1901) at Bulawayo has geologic, ethnographic, historical, and zoological collections. Located in Harare are the Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences, with archaeological, historical, zoological, and other collections, the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, which displays works of national, regional, and European art, and the Queen Victoria Museum. There is a military museum in Gweru and a children's museum in Marondera.