Our latest post explores the incredible libraries of Wales and explores the resources and services available across the country. We discover some of the libraries that make Wales so special including the National Library, University libraries and the NHS Wales Library Services.
Did you know that you can also search Library Hub Discover directly for records held in libraries in particular places? To search for Wales, just choose an ‘Advanced search’ and select ‘Wales’ from the ‘Region’ section at the bottom of the page.
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Aberystwyth University Library
Aberystwyth University Library benefits from an excellent range of library facilities on campus. The Hugh Owen library is the main library site and covers the humanities, business, law, social sciences, biological and earth sciences. The library also houses The Celtic Collection which includes about 25,000 books and materials on all subjects relating to Celtic Countries and the Rare Books Collection.
The Physical Sciences library houses the University’s materials for the study of mathematics, physics and computer science including The Scott Blair Collection. Students and staff are also able to use the nearby research collections at the National Library of Wales.
Find out more about the library and explore on Discover.
Bangor University Library
Bangor University Library holds an extensive range of print and electronic resources and is based across four libraries. The Main Library holds collections for Arts, Languages, Humanities, Social Sciences, Music, Law and The Welsh Library and is also the home of the Archives and Special Collections department. The Deiniol Library holds collections for sciences, psychology and healthcare sciences as well as a large collection of Ordnance Survey, Soil and Geological Survey maps. The Normal Library holds materials related to Education, Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences and collections of children’s books and Wrexham Maelor Library holds materials on Nursing, Midwifery, Radiography and Healthcare Sciences.
Bangor University Library has one of the largest university-based archives in the UK with their internationally recognised Archives and Special Collections department.
Find out more about the library and explore on Discover.
Cardiff Metropolitan University Library
Library & Information Services (L&IS) are at the heart of the learning, teaching and research experience for students and staff at Cardiff Metropolitan University. The two Learning Centres at their Llandaff and Cyncoed campuses house a vast collection of physical material covering all academic disciplines and research areas covered at Cardiff Met.
Special Collections relate to various areas of study including the Artists Books Collection, Ceramics Collection and Slide Collection for Art and Design. School Experience and Welsh Collection for the Cardiff School of Education and the Clinical Practice Collection for the Cardiff School of Health Sciences. These are housed separately to the main book and journal collections.
Find out more about the library and explore on Discover.
Cardiff University Libraries
Cardiff University libraries are based over 12 sites and hold over 1.1 million printed books and provide access to more than 1.5 million online books, journals and resources. Featuring specialist libraries, the collections hold resources for all subject areas and provide impressive and wide ranging resources for all. Sites include the Archie Cochrane Library, Architecture library, Arts and Social Sciences and so many more.
Highlights from the impressive Special Collections include a broad range of British and continental rare books, and modern research archives dedicated to the history of medicine and science as well as the extensive Welsh and Celtic Collections of the Salisbury Library. There is also a dedicated exhibition space which often regularly showcases collections.
Find out more about the library and explore on Discover.
Llyfrgell Gendlaethol Cymru / National Library of Wales
The National Library of Wales is located in Aberystwyth on the Ceredigion coastline and looks out over the beautiful Cardigan Bay. As well as being a copyright library, the Library houses millions of books, journals, newspapers, manuscripts, film reels, videos, photographs, art works and more, all pertaining to Wales and the Welsh way of living throughout the years. The library has a wide range of digital resources including ‘Places of Wales’, ‘Welsh Newspapers’ and ‘Welsh Journals and many more.
The National Library of Wales holds the largest collection of books in Wales. There are also approximately 40,000 manuscripts which form the most important collection of Welsh manuscripts in the world.
Find out more about the library and explore on Discover
NHS Wales Libraries
The NHS Wales Library Service promotes evidence based practice and provides quality health information to support patient care, education, professional development, training and research. Based in each of the major hospitals in Wales, the library services aim to provide a friendly, helpful and responsive high quality service.
Find out more about the libraries and explore on Discover.
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama / Coleg Brenhinol Cerdd a Drama Cymru
With a focus on performance, the collection at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama holds over 70,000 items including books, playscripts, journals, performance scores, orchestral sets and audio/visual materials. The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama provides specialist practical and performance-based training in music and drama, enabling students to enter and influence the world of music, theatre and related professions.
Find out more about the library and explore on Discover.
University of South Wales Library
The University of South Wales academic library services serves over 30,000 students and staff across four campuses and provides a wide range of high-quality library and information services to USW students, academics and researchers. The libraries at each of the four sites (Treforest, Glyntaff, Cardiff and Newport) provide access to a wide range of print and electronic resources, including books, ebooks, journals, newspapers, theses, DVDs and CDs, statistics and maps.
Find out more about the library and explore on Discover.
Swansea University Library
Swansea University Libraries and Archives provide high-quality information services for all students and staff, as well as the public. Spread across several different sites, the libraries offer the latest facilities and technology for learning and research. The Singleton Campus library houses the multidisciplinary collections of the arts and humanities, Science, Medicine, Law and Human and Health Sciences. The Bay Campus library serves the College of Engineering, School of Management, Computer Science and Mathematics whilst St Davids Park Library holds the health and human science resources.
South Wales Miners Library and the Banwen Library include special and historical collections and the Richard Burton Archives hold over 1.6 kilometres of material relating to the rich industrial, cultural and social heritage of Wales. The Richard Burton Archives is the corporate memory and archive repository of Swansea University and holds material of local, regional and national significance.
Find out more about the library and explore on Discover.
University of Wales Trinity St David
UWTSD Library and Learning Resources has campus libraries in Carmarthen, Lampeter, Swansea and London, which include a collection of over 500,000 printed volumes and provide access to approximately 20,000 electronic books and 50,000 electronic journals. The University’s special collections are held in the Roderic Bowen Library and Archives at Lampeter, which include over 35,000 printed works, featuring several medieval and post-medieval manuscripts.
Find out more about the library and explore on Discover.
Wrexham Glyndwr University
Wrexham Glyndwr University’s library has over 100,000 books, DVDs and other learning resources in the Edward Llwyd Centre on the Wrexham Plas Coch Campus. It offers a offers a wide range of information resources to support studies in a comfortable and flexible learning environment.
In addition, there is also a small reference library – the Leonard Goldstein Library – whose collections include works on literature, social and political history, photography, architecture, crime fiction, theology and philosophy.
Find out more about the library and explore on Discover.
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