Collections

The National Library of Scotland is Scotland's largest library. As well around 14 million printed items, we have over 100,000 manuscripts, around two million maps, and 25,000 newspaper and magazine titles. We receive roughly 320,000 new items every year, and have material in 490 languages.

In this section, our specialist collecting departments give guidance on different areas of our collections. See also our brief summaries below.

Brief summary:

• British collections
  How we collect British and Scottish materials, particularly through the legal deposit privilege. Includes the Scottish Theatre Programmes Database and National Poetry Day.
• Business collections
  Our Scottish Business Information Service maintains the largest business resource of its kind in Scotland. We offer free and valued-added, fee-based services to users within Scotland and beyond.
• Digital collections
  Details of digitised material available online from NLS. This includes items from NLS collections, plus extensive resources we are licensed to provide to registered readers who live in Scotland.
• Foreign collections
  Our foreign publications include material with a strong Scottish connection, works on foreign cultures, mountaineering and polar collections, and collections relating to the visual arts.
• Manuscript collections
  Information about our major collections of manuscripts and archives, historic and modern, relating mainly to Scots at home and abroad. Includes details on how to access these items.
• Map collections
  Find out about our map services and our collection of around two million maps and map-related material, such as gazetteers and guidebooks. More than 20,000 online maps available.
• Music collections
  Information on the NLS music collections, which range from early music to pop, with a strong Scottish emphasis. Includes both printed music and sound recordings.
• Newspapers collections
  A summary of our collection of newspapers – one of the largest in the UK, covering a wide range from the earliest newspaper to online titles. Includes the Guide to Scottish Newspaper Indexes.
• Official Publications collections
  Principal features are publications received from the Scottish and Westminster parliaments, the Scottish Government, all government-funded bodies (except the BBC). Also includes United States, Commonwealth, and United Nations publications.
• Rare Book collections
  Details of Rare Book Collections of printed material dating from 1455 to the present day, as well as new acquisitions, services and professional information.
• Science and Technology collections
  The Science Information Service is the main NLS source for science and technical information, providing enquiry and search services. this seciton includes an extensive range of links to science sites.
• Scottish Screen Archive
  Scotland's national moving image collection has 100 years of Scottish history on film and video. See 1,000 clips online on the archive's website.
• Principal additions to the collections
  A summary list (PDF file) of the most important additions to the collections, both printed and manuscript. Produced four times a year.
• Topics list
  An alphabetical list to help you get quickly to subjects in the collections category.

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