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Did you know that you can access many of the Library's collections from home 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

Over the last 20 years, we've been busy digitising our collection, resulting in over 5 million items available to access for free.

Our online collections include:

  • books 
  • manuscripts
  • archives 
  • maps
  • pictures
  • photographs 

Whatever your interests, there’s plenty for you to enjoy. 

Family history research

Here are a few ways we can help: 

Discover more about your house or local area 

The Places of Wales website is a great place to start.  

Here you can search and browse over 300,000 entries from the tithe maps of Wales. You can view the maps themselves and the accompanying apportionments and compare them to more modern maps. 

Who owned you house, what was the land used for in the past - its all on the Places of Wales website [places.library.wales].  

There’s also 1.2 million pages of Welsh Journals dating between 1735-2007 that could help you with local history research.  Browse through 450 different journals and see what you can find about your local area. 

Home schooling resources 

Are you home schooling? We can help!  

Our Education Service offers many education resources for free.  

Available on the Education Service's pages and Hwb, the resources cover a wide range of topics, from the Princes of Wales to the Second World War, to art and inspiring creativity.  

And during playtime, why not try the Digital Build Challenge and recreate the National Library of Wales using Minecraft, Lego or any other block game! Videos, floor plans, dimensions and pictures, all available on Hwb, will help you along the way.

Relax with the National Library! 

Had enough of research and learning? We have a variety of collections to entertain you.  

Let our beautiful works of art inspire you! Search our Main Catalogue or browse nearly 2,000 works of art from our collections through the ArtUK website.  

Escape for a while with old photographs or films, which we offer free online. 

You can even enjoy digital exhibitions from the comfort of your own home. 

There is also The Dictionary of Welsh Biography website, where you can discover men and women who have made an outstanding contribution to contribution to national life in Wales or worldwide.

The possibilities are endless and whatever interests you, you’re sure to discover something to inform or amuse.    

Visit our Library Resources page for a full list of our resources available from home.  

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Preserving the Nation’s Memory

The Library was established with donations given by the people of Wales, and together we can continue that tradition. Donate to ensure our heritage for future generations. All gifts will make a real difference.