Not all stock is immediately accessible by visiting the British Library in London. Most is available on loan through Inter-Library loan . For further details about access arrangement for City University members see BL Access below. Rare Books and Music includes pre-1851 printed materials, printed and manuscript music and the Listening Services of the National Sound Archive . The NSA's catalogue is now available on the web or through the British Library front page.
Maps includes works of and on cartography from the fifteenth century to the present.
Manuscripts houses the collection of hand-written materials in Western European languages, dating from the fourth century BC to the present day. Some categories require special permission for access. Oriental and India Office Collections cover the humanities, political and social sciences written in the languages of Asia and North Africa. An overview of the Newspaper Library shows the range of the collections at Colindale. The catalogue is also available on the web.