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Access the Library’s world-class collections and services through our modern and comfortable reading rooms.
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.
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
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.
Instead, you can conveniently request items through our online catalogue, and we will deliver them to one of our reading rooms for you to use:
- Main Reading Room – including Newspapers and Family History
- Special Collections Reading Room – including the Petherick Reading Room
Items are kept on reserve for 7 days from date of request. Items with special storage conditions are held for 1 day only.
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. Don't have a Library login? Apply for one online.