We are suspending item ordering and access to our entire collection from Monday 1 – Sunday 14 December while we prepare to launch our new catalogue. Find out more about how this may affect your research.
We have updated the catalogue launch date on this page to reflect the extension of the collection access suspension we have put in place due to planned strike action at St Pancras during the week of 8 December. Find out more.
We’re launching a new version of our main catalogue on Monday 15 December. You’ll be able to search our collection, place requests and check the status of your order, all in one place. We will also be relaunching our Archives and Manuscripts catalogue around this time, although this will have a different ordering process initially.
To keep our collection safe while we transition to these new catalogues, we are suspending item ordering and access to our entire collection from Monday 1 – Sunday 14 December 2025.
You can consult items in our Reading Rooms as usual until 17.00 on Saturday 29 November, when all items will be recalled to storage. Please ensure you allow enough time to consult the item you need before this time.
The collection item request form will be switched off at 16.00 on Saturday 29 November.
Any existing requests to consult items between Monday 1 – Sunday 14 December will be cancelled and you will be notified by email. All items that are still on reserve on Saturday 29 November at 17.00 will be returned to storage and will need to be requested again from Monday 15 December.
No. To consult items from Monday 15 December you will need to request them via our new catalogues, whichwill be available to use on Monday 15 December. If you have made a request to consult an item after the suspension this will be cancelled and you will be notified by email. We recommend you keep a note of the details of the item you want to consult so that it is easier to re-request it via the new catalogues.
Due to industrial action all St Pancras Reading Rooms will be closed between 8 and 12 December. They will reopen on 13 December but, until our new catalogue launches on 15 December and the collection access suspension ends, they will be for personal study only.
Our Boston Spa Reading Room will be open for personal study throughout this period.
If you have questions about the services you can still contact our Reference team but please be aware that there may be a delay in response time.
On Monday 15 December we’ll be launching a new version of our main catalogue and an integrated requesting system. This catalogue will include records for most of our published collections up to October 2025. The new system will allow easier access to these collections, real-time availability data and the ability to track your request. We’ll share detailed instructions on how to use the new system soon. From when it’s available on Monday 15 December, our team will be able to support you to use the new system and make requests.
We will also be aiming to launch a new catalogue for our Archives and Manuscripts collection around this time which will be a snapshot of the collection as of October 2023. There will be a different requesting process for those items initially, and we’ll share more details soon.
Our interim catalogue will still be available and the search functionality will be enabled but the collection item request form will not be available. The new version of our main catalogue will then be launched and requesting reopened from Monday 15 December.