Our services

Beyond the services we offer in our Reading Rooms we also collaborate with researchers, help people start and grow businesses, digitise collections, hire our spaces, publish our own books and help authors to benefit from public library loans.

Mystery books published by the British Library.

British Library Publishing

We publish from our collections to bring forgotten stories and original non-fiction to new readers. Find out how to stock our books.

Get support for your business

Start and grow your business with our Business & IP Centre. We offer free events, workshops, consultations, IP information and market research.

Business

Magnifying glass with bookshelves in background.

Use our collection metadata services

We offer a range of metadata services to libraries, publishers, researchers and the cultural heritage sector.

Research

Hire our spaces

Contact our team to find out how to host your conference, meeting, dinner or evening event at our prime central London venue.

Business

Digitise your collections

Our digitisation services include scoping, funding advice, photography, scanning, multispectral assessment and high-quality printing.

Research

Preserve your publication under legal deposit

If you publish anything in the UK and Ireland, you need to give one copy to the British Library so we can preserve it for future generations.

Sign up to Public Lending Right (PLR)

Join over 60,000 authors and book contributors who receive up to £6,600 per year when their books are borrowed from public libraries.

Collaborate with us on research

We provide opportunities for researchers to work with us to create new knowledge using our collections.

Research

Visitors looking at items in display cabinets.

How to borrow items for exhibitions

The British Library supports an active programme of loans as a vital way to share our collections with the public.