Historians at Edinburgh are very well served by an array of libraries and archives in the city, some of which date back to the sixteenth century.
The University of Edinburgh Library, which is one of the largest university libraries in the UK, is undergoing an extensive programme of renovation and renewal. Its special collections contain manuscripts and printed books relating to medieval, early-modern, and modern British and European history. The main library contains an extensive collection of Asian, American, and Indian texts.
Edinburgh also possesses two unique and vital research institutions. The National Library of Scotland is a copyright library containing all books and periodicals published in the UK and many from overseas. It has a Manuscripts Department with a large collection of manuscripts from all periods of British and European history.
