Collection Development
Maps, atlases, cartographic reference material and other map-related items are currently acquired in four ways:
- By legal deposit - material published in the UK
- By purchase - antiquarian maps (printed and manuscript) and modern foreign published material
- By donation
- By deposit - items of national interest deposited for safekeeping; they remain the property of the owner.
We aim to collect:
Maps and related material connected with Scotland
- Maps of Scotland produced by Scottish and foreign mapmakers.
- Maps and atlases of all parts of the world produced by Scottish map producers of the past and present.
- Maps and atlases relating to all parts of the world with a Scottish association.
Worldwide mapping and related material
- New maps, atlases and reference works published in the United Kingdom, through the legal deposit privilege. These relate to all parts of the world.
- An extensive reference collection of foreign-published
topographic and thematic maps, atlases, and reference works
relating to cartography.
Depending on availability and funding, we collect maps at the following scales:- Europe: 1:50,000 or nearest available scale
- Other parts of the world: 1:200,000 - 1:250,000
- Larger scales are available for some countries and islands.
Forms of cartography
- A representative collection of all major forms of cartography, including examples of map ephemera, and of types of cartographic production and expression.