Special Collections

Leeds University Library’s Special Collections is the home of hundreds of thousands of rare books, manuscripts, archives and art. Our collections offer a rich resource for staff, students, and the wider research community.

Our research centre has undergone significant improvements and you can now book to visit and consult material in the newly refurbished Brotherton Research Centre. Learn more about how to plan and book your visit.

From mid-April until the early Autumn, Special Collections will be undertaking a major refurbishment and reorganisation of some of its stores. Many collections will be moving into temporary storage and will be unavailable, and there may be periods when noisy work and disruption mean the Research Centre has to close. Please check the latest situation with the Research Centre team when making a booking.

Search the catalogue to find items of interest. Then you can order copies or add items to your basket to book an in-person visit or a virtual consultation.

Digitised parts of the collection are available online and can be searched, browsed and filtered through our advanced search.

We are pleased to consider offers of gifts of books, manuscripts, and objects. Please see our guidance on donating.

You can also contact us with any enquiries.

Explore our collections

Find out about our most important collections, discover what we have to offer for students and researchers from various subject disciplines and explore our historic items in detail.

Our collections

Find out about our most important collections.

Using collections

Everyone is welcome to come to visit us and use our Special Collections. Find out what you need to know about visiting, handling materials and making use of our copying and digitisation services.

Plan your visit

Handling books and manuscripts

Opening hours

Restricted access

Digitisation and copying

Family and local history research

More on Family and local history research

For staff

A man at a desk reading a from a piece of paper.

Teaching support

We support teaching through teaching sessions, research seminars, and group study sessions. You can also download one of our teaching packs or use our online resources in your teaching.

Galleries

Leeds University Library Galleries showcase the University’s remarkable collections of art and artefacts in two galleries: Treasures of the Brotherton and The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery. Located in the Parkinson Court, they are open to the public and free to enter.