About Us
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world’s greatest libraries. Our collections include more than 150 million items, in over 400 languages, to which three million new items are added every year. We house books, magazines, manuscripts, maps, music scores, newspapers, patents, databases, philatelic items, prints and drawings and sound recordings.
Much of the information within our Collections is reasonably accessible to users and it is Library policy that staff will allocate up to 30 minutes research time to information enquiries relating to our Collections. This may be followed, if necessary, by referral either to an internal priced research service, or to an external research agency. The purpose of such research is to discover whether or not the Library holds the information being sought and to provide the information whenever possible. The Library will continue to provide advice and assistance to users undertaking their own research on the collections we hold. For those enquiries that relate to information contained within our corporate records, the Freedom of Information Act applies.