The National Museums of Scotland Library holds over 300,000 volumes
of books, periodicals and special collections, and provides a wide
range of services for museum staff, and the public.
In some areas, notably archaeology and decorative art, the collections
are of national importance, and the Library holds material which
is not available elsewhere in Scotland.
Exhibits & Programs:
exhibIT:
An electronic resource room which provides visitors with a range
of computer-based information through which you will be able to
extend and deepen your knowledge of the Museum collections and their
context
exhibIT can offer you the visitor a more in-depth experience of
the core collections through the presentation of multimedia resources.
You are able to work at your own speed and shape your own informal
learning, according to your own specific interests.
exhibIT also offer full access to:
Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network
NMS is a founding partner of SCRAN. Thousands of our objects are
included in this searchable resource base.
The Collections:
The collections have been built up over more than two centuries,
encompassing archaeology, ethnography, numismatics, social and military
history, history of science and technology, agriculture, geology
and zoology. Our library holds an extensive collection of manuscripts
and photography including Hill and Adamson calotypes.
Decorative and applied art is also well represented, including
costume, accessories, ceramics, furniture, gold and silver, glass,
jewellery and textiles: comprehensive collections from Scotland
and the rest of the world.
A wide variety of types of publication are collected, with an emphasis
on monographs and periodicals. There are around 300,000 volumes,
including around 80,000 arts monographs, 30,000 sciences monographs,
800 current periodical subscriptions and 250 periodical titles received
by donation or exchange. The Library also collects relevant dissertations,
microforms, maps, pamphlets, slides, audio and videotapes, CD-ROMs
and computer software. Works of art and other two-dimensional items
are not collected unless they depict aspects of NMS history. The
Library holds an extensive collection of sale catalogues, principally
in the area of decorative arts and covering major auction houses
from the early years of the twentieth century to the present.
See website for more.
Hours of Operation:
Opening Times:
Monday to Saturday 10am-5pm
Tuesday 10am-8pm
Sunday 12noon-5pm
Address:
National Museums of Scotland Library
Chambers Street
Edinburgh EH1 1JF
U K
