Reading rooms

Access the Library’s world-class collections and services through our modern and comfortable reading rooms.

Due to major building activity at the Library you may hear some intermittent construction noise during your visit. We apologise for the inconvenience and we are grateful for your understanding.

Some of our collection is also temporarily unavailable. This means we may not be able to fulfil some requests for deliveries of Library items to the Reading Rooms.

At the moment, this includes the Asian Collections – general books and serials (until June 2025). Please check the catalogue carefully to find out if your selection is impacted.

Learn more about these temporary changes

About our reading rooms

Our reading rooms offer a comfortable and modern space for you to research and study.

Within the reading rooms you can:

request and access collection items
speak to expert staff
search and access electronic resources including journals, ebooks, indexes and databases
use our computers and internet for free
browse our reference collection
photocopy, scan and print.

Main Reading Room

Access a range of services and the Library's general collection in our Main Reading Room.

Library services

Special Collections Reading Room

A dedicated space for readers to view and research material from the Library's special collections.

Library services

Petherick Reading Room

Facilities, staff support and additional privileges for readers who are undertaking advanced research.

Library services

Librarian wheeling a trolley with collection material around the Newspapers & Family History Zone desk

Newspapers and family history zone

Access hardcopy and microfilm newspapers, family history resources, and material from our microform collection.

Library services

Collection delivery

As we are a reference library you can use collection items in our reading rooms but not take them home. We are also a closed stack library, meaning our collection storage areas cannot be visited by the public.

You can conveniently request items through our online catalogue, and we will deliver them to one of our reading rooms for you to use.

The time it takes for items to be delivered varies between rooms, so be sure to check our collection delivery times and login to your account before you visit. If you don't have a Library login, you can apply for one online.

Please note that there are no collection deliveries in evenings or on weekends and that delivery times vary throughout the week. Check delivery times before you visit.

Items are kept on reserve for 7 days from date of request. Items with special storage conditions are held for 1 day only.

Before you visit our reading rooms, we appreciate you reading our Code of conduct for readers and visitors, which helps us maintain a peaceful environment and protect our collection.