Our official publications collection contains a wide selection of items, including print, microfiche, and full-text digital collections.
Details of all official publications published since 1992 can be accessed using our main catalogue.
For material published before 1992, you can check our main catalogue, together with the following sources, which are available for consultation in the Library in Edinburgh:
- Parliamentary papers — sessional indexes and UK Parliamentary papers database
- Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) printed lists annotated with Library pressmarks.
Please note, not all of our serial titles and holdings information is listed on our main catalogue. If you cannot find what you are looking for, ask a member of staff in the Library, or contact us.
eResources
We have a huge range of eResources, many of which you can access online, in the Library in Edinburgh, and our Kelvin Hall premises in Glasgow. Our eResources include:
- Hundreds of thousands of digitised books, periodicals and manuscripts spanning over five centuries
- Millions of records and abstracts via online services and databases
- Thousands of full-text newspapers, journals and reports
- Hundreds of full-text reference works.
The following Official Publications eResources are unrestricted, and you can access them without a Library card:
- British Online Archives — the 1694-1709 full-text papers of the 'Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies', or the Darien Company
- The Cabinet Papers — an online database of the UK cabinet papers from 1916-1986
- OECD iLibrary — the online library of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), featuring its books, papers, data analysis and statistics
- Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 — a fully searchable database of records of the Scottish parliament from 1235 to 1707
- United Nations Bibliographic Information Service — An online database of United Nations documents and publications from 1979 onwards. Also provides access to voting records and index to speeches.
The following eResources are available to registered Library users living in Scotland:
- British History Online — a full-text digital archive providing access to some of the core primary and secondary sources for medieval and modern history of the British Isles
- Cold War Intelligence — a full-text collection of 2,360 formerly classified United States government documents, most of them classified Top Secret or higher
- India, Raj and the Empire — a full-text digital archive covering the history of South Asia between the foundation of the East India Company in 1615 and the independence to India and Pakistan in 1947
- Making of Modern Law — over 22,000 full-text legal treatises on United States and British law published from 1800 through 1926.
- State Papers Online — a digital manuscript database covering 200 years of British history, from the reign of Henry VIII to the end of the reign of Queen Anne, describing both domestic and overseas activity and events
- UK Parliamentary Papers — a full-text digital archive to the 19th and 20th century House of Commons parliamentary papers, 1801 to 2014, and House of Lords material from 1714 to 1910
The following eResources are available to registered Library users on Library premises:
- Official Publications Online — Online access to UK Parliamentary publications, primary and secondary legislation, House and Command papers and gazettes.
Further information and enquiries
You can search our A to Z of topics for information on specific subjects such as the EU Referendum and Brexit and the Scottish Independence Referendum 2014.
You can also browse printed finding aids in the Library's General Reading Room in Edinburgh.
For specific enquiries, ask a question online, or email Sarah Thomson, Government and Civic Literacy Curator at enquiries@nls.uk.