Accessibility statement

Research resources

The Raymond Burton Library for Humanities Research opened in autumn 2003, providing a dedicated building for humanities research adjoining the main library. The resources available through this library include Early English Books Online, and The Eighteenth Century Microfilm Collection (comprising over 12,000 reels).

The University has also made a very substantial investment in additional library resources for students across all historical periods and genres. The Samuel Storey Trust has guaranteed recurrent funding to create a substantial, rapidly developing Writing and Performance Collection for the University, which includes playwrights' manuscripts as well as printed materials. The first acquisitions are the collected papers of the playwright/screenwriter Charles Wood and the playwright/director Julia Pascal.

A new building on the university campus housing the Borthwick Institute for Archives was opened in January 2005. The Borthwick Institute, which shares a reading room with the Raymond Burton Library, is one of the major archive repositories of Britain.

York Minster library

The Minster Library

The University and Minster Libraries have certain specialised resources in the medieval period, in Renaissance and medieval iconography, historical theology (especially of the 16th and 17th centuries), and in the 18th and early 19th centuries; and in the modern field York has the Eliot Collection and Poetry Society Library.

In addition students have access to the King's Manor Library, and City Art Gallery Library. The University Library is a member of the SCONUL Scheme, enabling research students to use most other UK University libraries.

The British Library

York is also the nearest university to the British Library Document Supply Centre at Boston Spa - the largest lending library in Europe. The University Library offers a free minibus service to the British Library Document Supply Centre for postgraduate students and staff - contact the Library for further details.

The library subscribes to an ever increasing number of bibliographic and full text databases and electronic journals. More information is available from the library's English subject page.

Research training

In addition to the Departmental Research Training Programme, all graduate students have opportunities to follow courses in palaeography, provided by the Borthwick Institute, in bibliography and textual criticism; in Latin, including medieval Latin; and to take service courses in the major European languages as well as introductory courses with the University's IT Services.