Heritage Open Days: Behind the Scenes at the Library

Boston Spa is the engine that powers the Library. It’s there that three-quarters of our collection of over 170 million items is housed.

See behind the scenes at this unique site, a former munitions factory now home to a living collection that gets bigger every day. There are world-altering documents and manuscripts by history’s most original thinkers. Centuries of books, newspapers and maps. And a growing archive of everything published in the UK.

Discover more about the Library’s history, collection and the role of the Boston Spa site on a tour of areas not usually open to the public including the National Newspaper Building, the Collection Care and Digitisation suites, and the Additional Storage Building where you’ll see their robotic retrieval cranes in operation.

You’ll be guided by our knowledgeable, passionate Library staff who will share the Library’s unique quirks.

Please email boxoffice@bl.uk with your full details, the date you wish to book for, number of tickets and car registration (if arriving by car). We will respond to confirm your place on a first-come-first-served basis.