Lifelong Libraries - professions and organisations

The British Library is the national library with its main collections and Reading Rooms near Euston Station in London: see the "Join" pages for information about membership.

Scotland and Wales: Links here for membership information on the National Library of Scotland and National Library of Wales. 

The National Library of Ireland is in Dublin.

iStockPhotos, purchased for use at University of Birmingham

National Library of Art

• Library is in reading rooms in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.  Membership available with proof of ID

Barber Institute

• Art Reference Collections in the Barber building at the University of Birmingham

Black Cultural Archives

• "Black Cultural Archives is the only national heritage centre dedicated to collecting, preserving and celebrating the histories of African and Caribbean people in Britain".  1 Windrush Square, Brixton, London

Royal Historical Society

• Library with "more than a thousand works of historical scholarship": membership available, members of the public can also have access

Wiener Holocaust Library

• "The Wiener Holocaust Library is one of the world's leading and most extensive archives on the Holocaust and Nazi era.  Formed in 1933, the Library's unique collection of over one million items includes published and unpublished works, press cuttings, photographs and eyewitness testimony"

Gladstone's Library

• Residential library and meeting place for open-minded individuals and groups with programme of events led by writers in residence founded by the great Victorian statesman and Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone

Goethe Institut (London)

• German cultural institute offering language lessons and events, and library open to the public.  Offers an Onleihe system requiring only registration to access books, newspapers, films and language learning materials online

Instituto Cervantes (London)

• Spanish cultural institute: membership of Queen Sofia Library available 

 Institut Français (London) 

• French cultural institute: includes La Médiathèque, the "largest French library in the UK".  Membership from £30 p.a. or free walk-in use

Instituto Italiano di Cultura

• Italian cultural institute: includes library. Books and media available for borrowing (including postal service).  Open Monday to Thursday

Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections holds rare books and manuscripts, including important photographs of classical sites taken by the Victorian artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Please contact the Cadbury Research Library for further information.

Institute of Advanced Legal Studies

• Effectively a "National Library for Law"
• Research postgraduates and above can place enquiries
• See Library Guide for more details

Law Society

• Physical library
• Free remote service for enquiries needing up to 30 minutes research
• Some access offered to non-members

Gladstone's Library

• Residential library and meeting place for open-minded individuals and groups with programme of events led by writers in residence founded by the great Victorian statesman and Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone