The Swiss National Library is undertaking a major renovation and expansion project with a budget of 211.7 million Swiss francs (about 224 million euros). The building permit application for the site at Hallwylstrasse 15 in Bern was submitted by the Federal Office of Construction and Logistics on 10 September 2026. Construction is expected to begin in 2027 and last until 2034. The project includes reinforcing the building's structure, improving seismic safety, and optimizing the indoor climate to better preserve its collections. An underground extension will be built to accommodate workshops, specialized workspaces, and digitization efforts. The historic building, constructed between 1929 and 1931, will be adapted for modern use while maintaining its architectural features. The main change for the public will be on the ground floor, which will be transformed into a forum and meeting space, while the traditional book tower will remain a library. Before construction begins, the Swiss National Library and the Federal Office of Culture will move their operations to temporary premises at Monbijoustrasse 72-74 in Bern. This relocation will happen in stages, with the library closed to the public from 2 to 29 November 2026. A significant portion of the library's collections will stay at the Hallwylstrasse site, with a logistics system delivering requested materials to the temporary location. The budget of 211.7 million Swiss francs still needs to be approved by Parliament as part of the 2026 report on federal civil buildings. The Swiss National Library is responsible for collecting, cataloging, preserving, and making accessible the "Helvetica," a term referring to all texts, images, sound documents, and other publications produced in Switzerland, by Swiss authors or publishers, or about the country. Its collections include several million physical publications, as well as holdings from the Swiss Literary Archives, the Cabinet of Prints, and the Swiss National Phonothèque. These are supplemented by continuously growing digital archives. The library has been developing its digitization and long-term archiving capabilities for several years. The Bern project is part of a broader trend across Switzerland, where several major documentary institutions are undergoing significant changes. In Fribourg, the Canton and University Library (BCU) recently completed a major project, opening a new building in September 2026 after over five years of work. The project cost approximately 117 million Swiss francs (124 million euros) and combined the renovation of the historic building with a modern extension. The new BCU offers access to several hundred thousand documents, about 800 study and reading spaces, and new areas for exhibitions and group work. In Lausanne, the Unithèque of the Canton and University Library has been under construction since 2020. Its new extension, opened to the public on 26 May 2025, now temporarily houses the entire library while the historic building undergoes renovation, which has been closed since July 2025. The full completion of the expanded and renovated complex is planned for April 2027. This project aims to increase the number of publicly accessible documents, develop group workrooms, and modernize the university restaurant, with a total investment approaching 100 million Swiss francs (about 106 million euros). In Geneva, the Uni Bastions project is expected to create a new humanities library of about 5000 square meters by 2027. It will be located on the ground floor of the Central and Jura buildings and will bring together collections from the Faculties of Letters and Theology, which are currently spread across multiple locations. The Jura wing has already been renovated, and the central building, closed since September 2022, is expected to be completed in the summer of 2027. The site will accommodate more than 2000 students and about 450 staff members, while remaining open to the public. Another project involves the Geneva Library, located on the promenade des Bastions. The City is preparing a full restoration of the historic building and the construction of an underground extension for the conservation of collections. This project aims to consolidate collections currently spread across nine sites, provide space for future growth, and expand public access areas. The project is still in the development phase, with the City having launched a call for tenders in June related to the landscaping of the future library.