British Library, London: Your guide to contact for assistance

Address
British Library,
96 Euston Rd,
London NW1 2DB, UK

Support
Phone: +44 (0)330 333 1144
Phone: +44 (0)1937 546546 (Box Office)
Phone: +44 (0)1937 546060 (customer service)
Phone: +44 (0)1937 546655 (account support)
Email: customer-services@bl.uk (customer service)
Email: businessdevelopment@bl.uk (business development)
Email: members@bl.uk (membership)
Email: licensing@bl.uk (licensing queries)
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About British Library
Established in 1973, the British Library at the St. Pancras Building, in London is the oldest national library of the United Kingdom, and the world’s largest library for holding catalogued items from various countries. Officially opened to the public in 1998, over 16,000 students and scholars, use the reading rooms of the British Library.

Around 200 million catalogued items, such as books, manuscripts, historical writings, journals, newspapers, maps, drawings, scripts, magazines, audio recordings, stamps, and many others, dating back to over 2000 BC, finds a place of importance at the historic British national library. A legal deposit library, it receive copies in both digital and print form, and has a reading room to accommodate around 1,200 readers every day.

The library receives around 8000 copies every day, from the UK and Ireland, and around 3 million catalogued items every year, and would take around 80,000 years to read the entire collection. A grade-I listed building, the library covers 112,000 square metres of area, over 14 floors, with 9 floors above ground, and 5 floors below the basement. The glass façade of the building displays specifically designed shelves that extend to an overall length of 625 km, and is the largest public building in the United Kingdom, of such a historic significance. The library structure stands built, using 11 million bricks, and 200,000 tons of mortar, edified by strong steel and glass support systems.

The estimated catalogued items at the library includes, 8,000,000 stamps, 60,000,000 patents, 351,000 manuscripts, 13,000,000 books, 1,600,000 music recordings, 260,000 journals, and many others. The most visited section by tourists is the King’s library tower, that has personal manuscripts belonging to King George III, and some of the oldest items in the library, are the Chinese oracle bones, aged over 3000 years.

The library divides into 3 permanent exhibitions, namely the Sir John Ritblat Gallery (200 treasured items), the Philatelic Exhibition (stamp collections), and Conservation Uncovered (books and music), and the famous King’s Library (6-storey glass tower holding King George III collection of books). The famous exhibits of the Library includes the copies of the Magna Carta of 1215 (800 years old), the Gutenberg Bible , the original Beatles’ hand-written lyrics, notes written by Leonardo da Vinci, an original handwritten copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and a manuscript of Handel’s Messiah by the composer.

Admission is free for all and accessed using readers pass, and a visitors pass at the front desk. The library is open on Monday and Friday (9:30am-6:00pm), Tuesday-Thursday (9:30am-8:00pm), Saturday (9:30am-5:00pm), and Sunday (11:00am-5:00pm). Around 12 reading rooms are available for students and scholars, on different areas of subject, and a reader’s pass is necessary, to access the reading rooms. The reading rooms, exhibition, and the galleries are open from 9:30am-8:00pm, every day and closed off on Sundays.

Support British Library by being a patron. As a patron, you will enjoy special access to the collections through curated events, enjoy preview openings of major exhibitions and other exclusive behind the scenes opportunities. Get the annual British Library membership to enjoy unlimited free entry to exhibitions and access to exclusive Members’ Room. Members also receive 20% discount at restaurants, cafes and shops. You can join online using major debit/credit cards. You can also renew and even gift a membership to family or friends. Visitors can access over 170 million collection items for free with a Reader Pass.

Want to buy images of the British Library’s unique collections? The Digitisation Services section allows users to order high quality images. Some of them from the collections are featured on the Images Online catalog for download immediately.

As for transportation, the nearest metro line stations are at Kings Cross, and St. Pancras and Euston, connecting the library with all the major hotspots of the city. There are frequent bus services from Kings Cross, and Coach Rides are available from select bus stops. Car parking is unavailable, and bicyclists can park near the entrance of the library. The nearest airport is London City (LCY) and is 7.8 miles from the British Library. For complaints or queries on membership, schedule, exhibitions, cancellation, refund, career, or others, reach the British Library support.