How to order maps

It is located in the Library's Causewayside Building, 33 Salisbury Place, Edinburgh, EH9 ISL.

Visits to the Maps Reading Room are by pre-booked appointment. 

You can consult other post 1850 printed material in the General Reading Room or pre-1851 printed material, rare books, music, and archives and manuscripts in the Special Collections Reading Room.

You can use the main catalogue to look for maps in the Library's collections. There is a guide to finding maps using the main catalogue available to help you.

Request maps to view in the Maps Reading Room using our map request form.

You need to order your material at least 24 hours before your visit. Alternatively, staff can advise you on relevant maps for your research during your visit to the Maps Reading Room.

The following reference material is available on open shelves in the Maps Reading Room for immediate access and browsing.

• Atlases, particularly national atlases
• Gazetteers
• Cartographic reference books
• Guidebooks
• Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 current maps of Great Britain

You may remove items from the reading room shelves, but please do not remove anything from drawers — do ask staff for assistance. Please do not return items to the shelves, unless you are certain where they should go.

Most maps are kept in closed stacks and are fetched in a few minutes by staff when requested. An enquiry desk and experienced staff are always on hand. We recommend that you ask staff before consulting map catalogues and lists.

A small number of maps, books and manuscripts of particular cultural significance have restricted access for preservation reasons:

• These items are available for consultation only for research which needs the originals and cannot be undertaken using existing surrogates.
• You must give us 48 hours' notice that you wish to consult the item(s).
• If permission is agreed, you can make an appointment to consult the item(s)  in the Maps Reading Room, which is open from 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm, Mondays to Thursdays. Please note that consultation of restricted access items ends half an hour earlier than that for other collection items.

If you experience any problems with the self-service booking system or the registration process, ask a question online or phone 0131 623 4660.