The National Library Of Scotland

There are always quirky and interesting exhibitions on which don’t take too long to browse but are big enough to make you feel like you’re getting a wee dose of culture. Also great if you don’t have much time (which makes it a perfect retreat for getting out the office at lunchtime if you work nearby) or you have a short attention span.
The bigger exhibition (at the time of writing «Picturing Africa» — until 3 November 2013) has an audio guide which you can download into your smartphone/​tablet. There’s free wifi available too.
There are cute animal sound effects which kids and grown ups will enjoy. Listen out for the trumpeting elephant & spare yourself some blushes — I got a fright!
The café is really good and the main reason I often come here. They do lovely soup with fresh bread, have a good selection of sandwiches & cakes and the coffee is good too.

A step back in time…
If you want it, they can find…
So so for study

When the uni library is not enough and you need some solid background and historical info for your dissertation, the NLS is the place to go.
It’s a ‘proper’ library like you see in the movies. You leave your stuff in the cloakroom and head to the reading rooms with your pencil and notepad (or a laptop, but I’m old school that way). It’s a great space to do some research. Silent and the atmosphere is prone to studying. Beautiful building too. And it’s open until 8.30pm during the week.

Just go. It’s nice and they have really great exhibitions.

It is the primary focus of a national museum to collect, organise and maintain objects and artefacts relating to the country’s history and culture. This too is the mission of a national library, but concerning the written word and published material.
Edinburgh’s George IV Bridge is home to the National Library of Scotland. Sitting across the road from, and not to be confused with, the Edinburgh Central Library, the National Library is a monumental, rectangular building dominating almost half the street. But it doesn’t shout about it. In fact, you’d probably even get stared out for whispering.
If the secondary aim of a National Museum is to be open to all, exciting for all and a place of shared experience then the NLS is, close to the opposite. It’s reserved, studious and just slightly elitist. The NLS does have a lovely foyer with a coffee shop, computer access, enquiries area and visitors display but you’re gonna have to do your homework to get any further than that. Proof of address must be given (eligibility will be on their website but I think you’ve to live in Scotland) and a few sentences about why you want access. You get a photographic membership card and off you go. Almost. Everything you take into the reading room must be in one of the provided transparent bags. No rucksacks. No handbags. Pencils only. No food. No photographic equipment. All left in your locker.
OK, you’re upstairs. Either you’ve brought the reference number of what you want from the online catalogue or you use the dedicated computers provided; you bring your request to the desk, and then you wait.
Give or take, for an hour.
So try to figure out what you’ll need first time round!
Yes, with a staggering collection of old, out of print and rare books and a copy of every book printed by a British publishing house (or at least those with an ISBN) for many decades they’ve got more than 3 books per head for every Scot. And newspapers. And maps. And manuscripts. So it stands to reason that the librarian doesn’t ascend a 200m ladder half a mile down the corridor to retrieve your book. The majority of the books are housed off-​site, with hourly shuttle runs for requests by the NLS van. Rumour has it that less than 1% of the collection is housed in the reading room. And as you gaze around the 2 tier room, the length of a good one-​and-​a-​bit football pitches, walls floor to ceiling with books, it provokes a similar emotion to staring at the night’s sky. Once retrieved your books are kept on-​site, from memory, for 7 days.
You can hear a pin drop inside. The rarefied atmosphere of everyone, mostly alone, researching, taking notes and reading is a step up from a local or University library and depending on your personality can be conducive to work or maddening!
But that’s the way it is, and that’s the way it has to be. I guess if putting your signature to a form and a doorman were all that was stopping you picking up and interrogating an object in the Museum, the same system would apply. And essentially, that’s what you’re doing at the NLS.
You have to go there with a specific aim. It’s an academic service. And once you understand it, it works flawlessly, meriting 5 stars. However, I have come across a few stuck-​up and unhelpful interns and members of staff in the past, so 4 stars it gets.

The National Library of Scotland is a great resource for finding books, publications, documents and maps. Indeed, the library has a copy of the majority of the books which have been printed in English.
The exterior and interior of the building is dominating, but in a way which is very impressive. As a student, there is an aura about studying in this place. However, as a student you are also treated differently. If you’re a student in your first, second, third, or fourth year, the staff are more than likely to treat you like an annoyance! As a student working on their dissertation, the staff were very strict about what I could and could not access, and did not seem that friendly. As soon as I turned into a post graduate student though, the staff couldn’t be but friendly and chatty! Very weird indeed.
The library also host some exhibitions from time to time, and even some book events. There is a small café inside, so if you fancy a coffee, it’s as good a place as any to go.
A very impressive place to visit!

This place is huge! It’s genuinely illuminating to come in here and understand exactly how much literature has been produced on so many subjects.
It is quite confusing and it’s not clear at all as to how it’s organised. It’s feels a bit like they’ve just sat down and devised a completely deranged system for arranging it all. It’s not even ordered by subject or date!
Nonetheless, it’s a great place to find valuable, original editions of many books. Further, they have specific sections tailored to scholars of the pillars of Scottish literature like Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Burns and Muriel Spark.
Although it’s fairly daunting, it’s clean, the staff are friendly and it’s got a real sense of culture about it.

This is easy to confuse with Central Library, but this is hwere they keep the special books — all the special books. Central Library is just a normal library.
To come read these books you will have to apply at the registration desk for a pass (with ID) that will last for either a few days or about 3 months.
If there is a secific old book here you want to see then you should definitely come here to see it, but if not then this is a lot of fuss over reading a book and you’ll be better going elsewhere.

There isnt any library quite like this one — its catalogue of book covers just about everything ever printed and published in Scotland for the last 200 years, and even then some of the stuff stretches much further back than that.
Although I agree with Stephanie T. about how this place can be confusing, once you get used to it you will be able to appreciate just how powerful a learning tool this place is.
It’s quiet, clean, well staffed and has every book you could ever want to read in some excellent reading rooms and other media rooms.

Free papers, great coffee, numerous BBC news viewing screens, and all encased within opulent surroundings.
Plenty of space and the most comprehensive book selection you’ll get in Scotland equate to a high ranking library.
Look out for court judges and other legal sector employees milling around in the café, always a good distraction from your workload.

The biggest library I have ever encountered thus far has been my Uni library in Glasgow, which is comprised of 4 storeys and a hell of a lot of books. They aren’t very helpful when it comes to back-​dated issues of magazines though, and for that, I needed to come to this humongous National Library in Edinburgh.
It took me an age to find it, and once I got inside, I was even more confused. I had to ring up a day in advance so that they could look out the magazines for me, and was told to ask at the desk when I arrived to be shown to the reading rooms on the first floor. For a start, the inside of the library is grand and stunning, with a staircase that seems to go on forever.
It was a confusing affair, as I was told to go to one desk then another, and I had to register for a temporary card to see the magazines. You have to leave all belongings other than a pencil and note-​paper in lockers provided, which meant I had to buy a pencil as all I had were pens!
I went up and collected my magazines and went to the ultra-​quiet reading room, which I was sort of scared to breathe in! It was nice to get peace and quiet although I was happy to get out of there so I could yawn!
Great if you need something specific, although you cannot take items out of this library, it is solely a place to read on the premises.

I’m not a huge bookworm, so it was always unlikely that I’d get excited enough about a library to give it 5 stars. That said, although my experience of libraries consists mainly of the Uni library in the run-​up to exams, as far as they go this library is about as good as they get.
There are over 14million books/​articles/​journals etc to keep you amused on rainy days for a start, and roughly 2 million of those are maps.
Apart from anything else, I come here to revise when the Uni library is too full of people who don’t get the concept of keeping vaguely quiet in a library. There are always plenty of spaces to work here, and when you’re eyes and brain need a rest the café does really good coffees!

It is number one library café in the city for me. I love spending my time there taking sips of coffee or trying the delicious cakes, browsing through the brochures with the latest news on cultural events and exhibitions, or just watching at the big screen showing parts from archival documentaries. It is also great that the seating area of the café is within the bookshop so if you want you can study the latest book editions, chat to other customers, or take a glimpse of the current exhibitions in the rooms next to the café.

Despite the modern exterior, the National Library of Scotland contains a fairly traditional interior. Access is quite strictly controlled so as a student visiting to conduct research for my dissertation, I had to complete an entrance application beforehand. As you would expect, the library contains a vast amount of reference materials, and the staff are generally efficient when it comes to locating resources and meeting requests although I sensed a slight coldness as a visiting, young student and would have appreciated being told that there are certain pick up times for some collections after which your request will not be met until the following day. Overall, the atmosphere within the Library is very conducive to studying compared with other libraries and I would visit again should I require to do so.