The National Library of Scotland is a major European research library and one of the world’s leading centres for the study of Scotland and the Scots – an information treasure trove for Scotland’s knowledge, history and culture.
The Library’s collections are of international importance. Key formats include rare books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, music, moving images and official publications. The Library holds more than 30 million physical items dating back more than 1000 years as well as a growing library of digital material. Every week the Library collects around 5,000 new items. Most of these are received under Legal Deposit legislation, allowing the Library to claim a copy of everything published in the UK and Ireland (everything from children’s books to science journals, election leaflets to magazines and websites).
The National Library of Scotland's maps website provides free access to over 250,000 images of historic maps, dating between the 1560s and 1970s. These include the largest freely available set of Ordnance Survey maps of England, Scotland and Wales. We also hold town plans, county maps, bathymetrical charts, geological and land-use maps, Admiralty charts, and a wide range of commercial series maps. Our geographic focus is Scotland, but we have very good coverage of maps of England and Wales.