National Library of Scotland

The National Library of Scotland map collection is one of the ten largest in the world, covering all parts of the globe, through some 700 years, from medieval manuscript maps to current digital mapping.

Meet the Partner

The National Library of Scotland is a major European research library and one of the world’s leading centres for the study of Scotland and the Scots – an information treasure trove for Scotland’s knowledge, history and culture.

The Library’s collections are of international importance. Key formats include rare books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, music, moving images and official publications. The Library holds more than 30 million physical items dating back more than 1000 years as well as a growing library of digital material. Every week the Library collects around 5,000 new items. Most of these are received under Legal Deposit legislation, allowing the Library to claim a copy of everything published in the UK and Ireland (everything from children’s books to science journals, election leaflets to magazines and websites).

The National Library of Scotland's maps website provides free access to over 250,000 images of historic maps, dating between the 1560s and 1970s. These include the largest freely available set of Ordnance Survey maps of England, Scotland and Wales. We also hold town plans, county maps, bathymetrical charts, geological and land-use maps, Admiralty charts, and a wide range of commercial series maps. Our geographic focus is Scotland, but we have very good coverage of maps of England and Wales.

How they can help you

Our main solution for OS customers is providing copies, in hard copy and digital forms, of in-copyright Ordnance Survey maps. These are maps published within the last 50 years. We hold a comprehensive set of these Ordnance Survey maps, and can provide copies of them with an additional Ordnance Survey royalty fee charge. We deal with all institutions, regardless of size. The full service is described on the National Library of Scotland licensing information page.

Our main specialism is with maps, both in hard copy and digital forms. Our major audiences and users are members of the public interested in local and family history, as well as all types of landscape history. We regularly deal with companies specialising in legal and property enquiries, environmental risk, asset management, and archaeology, as well as public sector organisations interested in geography, planning, and infrastructure. We also deal with media, design and television companies, seeking graphic images of historic maps.

Prices of copies and printouts of maps range from £5.00 to £40.00, depending on the size and type. There are full details of prices for printouts and images of maps at: https://maps.nls.uk/enquiries.

Prices for obtaining in-copyright OS maps including the OS royalty fee are at: https://www.nls.uk/collections/maps/services/reprographics/os-licence/