Our collections
Our shelves hold over 170 million items – a living collection that gets bigger every day.
We have millions of books, but also newspapers, maps, sound recordings, photographs, patents and stamps.
Search our catalogues or explore our research guides.
You'll need a Reader Pass to see material in our Reading Rooms. You can find out how to use the Library here.
What's available?
We are recovering from a cyber-attack that disrupted our systems and services. Recovery is underway, but not everything is back yet. Thank you for your continued patience and support.
Find out what’s currently available and how you can use the Library during this recovery period.
Available catalogues
Main catalogue
An interim version of our catalogue, containing most of our printed collection items and some freely available electronic resources.
British National Bibliography (BNB)
Linked open data for books and journals published or distributed in the United Kingdom and Ireland since 1950, and electronic publications since 2013.
English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC)
Over 500,000 records of works printed in the English-speaking world before 1801. Hosted by the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL).
Incunabula Short Title Catalogue (ISTC)
The international database of 15th-century European printing, created by the British Library with contributions from institutions worldwide.
Digital collections
Digitised manuscripts and archives
View more than 2,000 of our digitised manuscripts and archives, including the Sherborne Missal and Octateuch, Four Gospels and Synodicon.
Endangered Archives Programme (EAP)
Digitised archives from around the world that were in danger of destruction, neglect or physical deterioration.
International Dunhuang Programme (IDP)
Over 40,000 conserved and digitised manuscripts, paintings, historical photographs, textiles and artefacts from the Eastern Silk Roads.
Digitised books
Over 700,000 digitised books from our collection are available on Google books.
Qatar Digital Library
Over two million digitised pages, covering the history and culture of the Gulf and wider region, including Arabic scientific manuscripts from our collection.
Research Repository
An open access repository for outputs from our staff, data sets, 3D models of collection items, and content from other heritage organisations.
Collection images
Our picture library gives instant access to thousands of the greatest images from our collection. Free and paid-for options, depending on resolution and copyright.
Theatrical playbills
Around 80,000 theatre posters, including high resolution images with searchable text of English, Scottish, and Irish playbills made between 1600 and 1902.
Recommended eresources
Digital resources selected by our experts, including websites, full text databases, abstracting and indexing databases and other reference sources.
