Almost all of the books in the British Library are held in storage, either in our basements in St Pancras or in large storage buildings in Boston Spa, Yorkshire. However each reading room has a small collection of books on their shelves, which we refer to as our Open Shelves collections. These can be used by anyone with a reader pass, without needing to place orders.
Most of our open access collection is general reference material, such as dictionaries, encyclopaedias, and bibliographies. This material can be a great place to start when researching a new topic, providing valuable background information and giving an overview of relevant issues.
Humanities open shelf material use three-letter shelfmarks, most commonly HLR, HUR and HUS, followed by the Dewey Decimal number for the item, eg. HLR 920.041. Humanities Reference Specialists can help you locate the item you are looking for.
A list of frequently requested items and their shelfmarks is available here: Freqently Requested Works (PDF, 0.1mb)
Here is a quick summary of our various shelfmarks and the subjects they contain:
Calendar of State Papers (HLR 941) A register documenting the activities of the British crown and government at home and in its colonies in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Encyclopaedia Britannica (HLR 032): The 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica is available on our shelves. A comprehensive archive of the most famous general knowledge encyclopaedia.
Grove Dictionary of Art (HLR 703): The 34-volume dictionary covers the history of Western and non-Western art, with 45,000 different articles written by art experts from 120 countries.
Harleian Society Publications (HLX 929.341): These document the heraldic visitations that regulated coats of arms in England, Ireland and Wales since Tudor times.
Monumenta Germaniae Historica (HLL 943): This major work of historical scholarship is a record of primary sources for the study of north-western and central European peoples from the Dark Ages to 1500.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (HLR 920.041): The 60 volumes of the Oxford DNB includes biographies of more than 60,000 men and women who have shaped the history and culture of Britain from Roman times to the 21st century.
Pevsner Architectural Guides (HLR Enq 720.942): Nikolaus Pevsner’s definitive illustrated record of architecture of the Buildings of England is available from the Enquiry Desk in Humanities 1.
Rolls Series (HLR 941): The Rolls Series is a collection of British and Irish chronicles and memorials of the Middle Ages, published in 253 volumes between 1858 and 1911.
Times Literary Supplement (HUL 809.005): We hold back copy volumes with issues of the TLS dating back to the launch of the literary periodical in 1902. The latest copies of TLS are available in Humanities 2.
Victoria County Histories (HLL 942 ): The Victoria County Histories are a series of encyclopaedic histories of the counties of England, first published in 1899 and ongoing to this day.
Who’s Who (HLR Enq 920.041): One of the world’s longest running reference books, Who’s Who has been published every year since 1849, with biographies of the most influential British people of the day. We also have Who Was Who, and professional and regional variations at HLR 920.041.