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The Bibliography of Scottish Literature in Translation (BOSLIT) was a collaborative online resource hosted by the National Library of Scotland. From October 2018, that service has ceased.

We have retained BOSLIT as a dataset, and it is available in MARC XML format.

The Guide to Manuscript Collections covers all significant manuscripts and archives held in our collections.

They date mainly from the seventeenth century to the present day. These documents are available as PDF files.

The Scottish newspaper indexes searchable list provides details of Scottish newspaper titles that have an index.

This database records the type of index, the dates covered, and the libraries that have a copy. You can search by newspaper title and by keyword.

The literary fame of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) ensured the survival of a huge number of his letters. Their topics range from old ballads to the major political questions of the day. Scott himself kept many of the letters he received.

The Union Catalogue, compiled by the late Professor Jane Millgate (University of Toronto), provides records for over 14,000 letters written by or to Scott that have proved traceable worldwide in autograph, transcript, or printed form, including the nearly 10,000 letters held by the National Library of Scotland.

The Index to modern political manuscripts is the principal national archive of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, the Scottish Green Party, the Scottish Liberal Democrat Party and the Scottish National Party.

The Library also has extensive holdings of the papers of a number of politicians, among them some of the surviving papers of James Keir Hardie and Jo Grimond.

Rare Book Collections works to build up the national collections through purchases (through dealers or at auction) and donations. This directory gives details of around 1,100 of the most important items we have acquired since 2000.

We update it regularly as new material comes in.

The Scots Abroad databases give details of material relating to the lives of Scots and their experiences overseas.

Scots went abroad for a variety of reasons: exploration, missionary work, study, travel, emigration or tourism. The Library's collections contain materials relating to the life of Scots both at home and abroad.

Scottish Bibliographies Online was a database about Scots, Scotland, and Scottish writing. The SBO contained references to Scottish content found in books, periodicals and other media.

The service was retired in 2019 and is being redeveloped as part of the National Bibliography of Scotland.

The Scottish Book Trade Index lists the names, trades and addresses of people involved in printing in Scotland up to 1850. It covers:

• Printers
• Publishers
• Booksellers
• Bookbinders
• Printmakers
• Stationers
• Papermakers

This resource is an online edition of 'A list of books printed in Scotland before 1701' by H G Aldis produced by the National Library of Scotland.

First published in 1904, Aldis is the standard checklist for books printed in Scotland, or outside Scotland for the Scottish market, before 1701. The 1970 revised edition has been out of print for many years.

Scottish labour history collection list contains summary details of all collections of significant size received to date by the Library in the field of Scottish labour and trade union history, including personal papers of individuals active in these movements. 

A pilot project is under way at the National Library of Scotland to test the conversion of the Library's Scottish song card index - which allows you to trace songs through their publication history - into an online database.

Our Scottish theatre programmes database gives you access to records of an extensive collection of programmes, playbills and posters.

These items from theatres and other venues date from the 19th century onwards.

We provide access here to a preview copy of Mr William Dean-Myatt's 'Scottish vernacular discography, 1888-1960'.

The Special and named printed collections directory lists and describes around 200 of the Library's special collections of printed books.

Special collections - usually books from a particular library or private collector that come to us as a single collection - have been acquired since 1695. Individual collections often reflect the interests of the person who originally brought the books together. 

At the National Library of Scotland, we use the Alma library management system supplied by Ex Libris Group.

Access to the Alma database is available to search and retrieval systems using the z39.50 standard protocol (ISO 23950).

Please view the z39-50 guidance on the use of records in our catalogues before setting up your connection.