This is an introduction for new visitors, and a chance to form an impression of the world of the Library, and how to use it.

If you’re a teacher, you could use this section as a teaching resource to support research and information seeking skills. Ideas for doing this can be found in the Research section.

A library is a place for discoveries. You can search for facts and find fictions. You can confirm your ideas, or come across brand new ones. What do you need to use a library well?

• The skill of a detective to follow up leads!
• A keen sense of nosiness! You need to ask yourself enough questions in order to form the whole picture.
• The patience of a craftsman to piece together all the bits of your research.
• All of this you can do with the help of the huge variety of information which a library holds on its shelves and in its catalogues – some of them ordinary, some of them unexpected, some old, some new.

The Library is a place full of treasures of all kinds. There are rare and beautiful books and manuscripts here; brand new novels; early maps and fragile photographs. The collection of art is vast. Get to know what it is like inside this grand building with the help of our illustrated guide.

First of all – some facts and figures to amaze you.

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Interesting Facts
The Building
The Work
The Collections