Science

Our resources support the needs of specialists working in academia and business, and can support multidisciplinary research interests.

Collection guides

Coronavirus (Covid-19) online information
Selected public health information and research freely available online
Science overview
We support the needs of specialists working in academia and business, and can support multidisciplinary research interests
Science electronic resources
We subscribe to a large and growing number of electronic resources and bibliographic databases
Patents
The British Library is the UK’s national patent library
Wildlife and environmental sounds
The largest collection of its kind in Europe and the most comprehensive in the world

Help

How to get a British Library Reader Pass

Science Reading Rooms

Floor 2 focuses on Medicine and Life Sciences, Floor 3 focuses on Physical Sciences and Engineering.

Find information on the open-access shelves
Access online databases and electronic books and journals
Order collection items to the Reading Rooms via our catalogues

If you need help, please ask our Reference Specialists at the Enquiry desk or contact the Science Reference Service Team.

We offer a range of free Reader sessions and 1-2-1 consultations to help you make the best use of the Library's collections.

You’ll need a Reader Pass

Mon: 10.00 – 20.00
Tue – Thu: 09.30 – 20.00
Fri – Sat: 09.30 – 17.00
Sun & English Public Holidays: closed

Opening hours for all Reading Rooms

Science case studies

More Case studies

…I never really thought I’d do a PhD … but this particular collaborative arrangement was too good to miss!…

Exploring the privatisation of government science through life histories

Collaborative Doctoral Student British Library

…You get to know how people work in an institution like this... it's something I would like to do as well.…

Exploring the working life of a twentieth-century scientist through the archive of John Maynard Smith.

Blog posts

World Bee Day

Saturday, May 20, 2023

The 20th of May is World Bee Day – an in...

Drawings of a gharial, llama and tiger for Lady Hasting

Monday, May 8, 2023

The British Library’s current exhibition Animals: Art, Science and Sound, features more than 120 objects that explores the different ways in which animals have been written about, visualised and recorded over the last two thousand years. The exhibition brings together...

Wild British Library: A feather

Thursday, April 27, 2023

What’s going on in the British Library at night? A creamy-brown mottled feather with a broken quill might shed light on some unexpected activities. A feather A feather was spotted on a sunny crisp lunch break walk on 15 February...

Introducing the Wild British Library

Monday, April 24, 2023

Our current flagship exhibition on our St Pancras site is “Animals: Art, Science and Sound”, covering how the animals sharing our planet with us have been depicted, recorded and investigated by humans. It runs from 21st April to 28th August...

Projects

Access to Understanding

Access to Understanding is a collaboration, led by the British Library, which unites individuals and organisations that want to promote wider understanding of biomedical research findings.