Museum libraries and archives

The Museum collection is available to researchers of all different levels through its galleries, libraries and study rooms, as well as online.

The Paul Hamlyn Library

The Paul Hamlyn Library, the Museum's public reference library is generously supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and is located next to Room 2. It is open to all visitors.

The library has been temporarily relocated from the Museum's Reading Room to a room within the building which was the fifth Reading Room in the history of the Museum and in use from 1829 to 1838.

Among the well-known people who used this room were politician and historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, novelist William Thackeray, the poet Robert Browning, Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini and naturalist Charles Darwin. Novelist, Charles Dickens also studied here, and told his biographer John Forster that his days in this reading room were the most useful he had ever passed.

There are 36 reader seats in the Paul Hamlyn Library and one third of the books are openly available on the open shelves. The rest of the stock is delivered to readers at their desks on request.

Books may not be borrowed from the library, but are available for reference during opening hours.

This 18,000 volume library aims to help visitors find out more about the Museum’s collection and the cultures represented. The subject-matter is very wide-ranging, including archaeology, history, art, numismatics, Egyptology, classical antiquities, oriental art, and museum studies.

The library catalogue can be consulted at terminals in the reading room, along with many specialist websites, and visitors can also see Highlights, the Museum’s object database.

Children’s books, family trails and backpacks, and resources for teachers are all available in the Paul Hamlyn Library. The library also hosts regular storytelling sessions for schoolchildren.

Photocopying facilities are available.

Opening times:

10.00 – 17.30            Saturday – Wednesday
10.00 – 20.30            Thursday
12.00 – 20.30            Friday

The Museum’s Central Archive may be accessed in the Paul Hamlyn Library, by appointment.

The Central library

The Central library is a general reference library primarily for museum staff, but also available to the public by appointment. It must be noted that the Central library is a library of last resort and can only admit users who need material not easily available elsewhere.

There is a core collection of around 16,000 books and 100 current journals, on a wide range of subjects, such as museology and collecting, archaeology, and scholarly reference works of interest to staff throughout the museum.

There is a large collection of works relating to the history of the British Museum, including old guides and synopses dating back to 1778, copies of Acts of Parliament, and even works of fiction that feature the museum.

We hold of copy of every BM publication, including back runs of periodicals, and a collection of ephemera relating to past exhibitions, including posters and postcards.

The Central Library’s collection also includes the rare books on loan from the House of Commons Library displayed in the Enlightenment Gallery.

Opening times:

Monday to Friday 10:00 – 17:00, staff permitting.

We have space for six readers.

Photocopying is available.

To arrange a visit, contact:

librariesandarchives@britishmuseum.org

Joanna Bowring
Head of Libraries and Information
British Museum
Great Russell Street
London
WC1B 3DG

+44 (0)20 7323 8491