Regarded as having one of the top three architectural collections in the world and the finest in Europe, the British Architectural Library| at the RIBA is home to over four million items:

• 150,000 books
• 2,000 periodicals titles
• 1 million drawings
• 1.5 million archive items
• 1.5 million photographs

Visitor notice: Reduced access 
Until 2014, access to the Photographs Collection will be limited and some books and journals will be available by advanced request only. For further details go to Library news|.

Visiting the collections

Everyone is welcome to visit| and use the collections. Admission is free to the Library's two public sites: the Reading Room at the RIBA (66 Portland Place, London) and the RIBA Architecture Study Rooms at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Visitors can explore the collections as part of the Library's education| programmes and in exhibitions and talks| at the RIBA and beyond.

View the collections online

The collections can also be explored remotely through the RIBA's expanding range of online exhibitions| and the image database RIBApix|.

Conservation

Much of the work related to the collections takes place behind the scenes. Discover the RIBA's conservation| work undertaken for its drawings by Palladio.