The NAL is a specialised, scientific, public institution carrying national tasks, it is a budgetary institution. Its high authority is the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The library would like to attend enquirers working in agriculture from Hungary and abroad – students, lecturers, researchers, practical agrarians, enterpreneurs, primary producers etc. It is the most important collection of special literature in the Hungarian agricultural sector, furthermore, it is the co-ordination centre for libraries of institutions of higher agricultural education and for agricultural special libraries. The library is the agri-cultural centre of Middle- and East-Europe.          NAL functions as deposit library of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) and as such collects, processes, stores, and provides its publications. As Hungarian Agris-Centre takes part in building of the Agris database of FAO.