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You can access our Special Collections both in person (as a reader) and increasingly online in our Library Digitised Collections and Manchester Digital Collections.
Find out more about the Special Collections
Most Special Collections are held at John Rylands Research Institute and Library
Other collections are held at the Main Library on the Oxford Road campus. These include the archives of the University of Manchester, Christian Brethren Archives, the Map Collection, many scientific and medical archives, and post-1800 medical books.
We offer a closed-access reader service which means that items must be pre-ordered. They are then retrieved by staff and brought to your desk in the Reading Room. Special Collections items cannot be borrowed.
In order to become a reader you must complete our membership form before your first visit. Then when you come for the first time please bring with you proof of address and photographic ID. If you are a member of the University your University ID Card is sufficient proof of identity.
It is essential to either email or telephone +44 (0)161 275 3764 in advance of any visit. We can then retrieve the materials you want before you arrive. This is particularly important on your first visit.
Requests for access to modern (post-1914) archives must be made well in advance, so that an archivist can check the material and decide whether it can be made available under the Data Protection Act 1998.
Using the Reading Rooms at John Rylands Library.
Using Special Collections at the Main Library.
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