Practical and inspiring open days for PhD students of all disciplines

The British Library is the national library of the UK and one of the world’s leading research libraries.

Complementing our Reading Rooms at St Pancras in London, the Library’s site at Boston Spa – two miles outside Wetherby in West Yorkshire – offers researchers an alternative gateway to our vast research collection. This include academic journals covering all disciplines, millions of monograph titles and the national newspaper collection, as well as access to the British Library sound archive and the web archives.

Held on site at Boston Spa, this open day will introduce you to these collections and provide practical guidance on how to use our catalogues and navigate our online resources. Suitable for researchers of all disciplines and subject areas, the programme combines talks and behind the scenes tours to give a flavour of the breadth and depth of our holdings and research expertise.

The day will showcase the expanding range of research material accessible to researchers at Boston Spa. It will also provide an overarching introduction to the Library that will be of interest to anyone planning to explore our collection for PhD research – whether in Yorkshire, in London or online.

Researchers with specific subject interests covered by one of the other open days are encouraged to register for the appropriate event in London. However, the Boston Spa open day offers those unable to make it to an event in London an opportunity to meet our experts and discover our remarkable research collection.

To make the most of your day, you may wish to register for a free Reader Pass before the event.

This event is for first year PhD students who are new to the Library.

You can see a draft programme for the day here.

Comments from previous Open Day attendees:

‘great opportunity to meet other delegates and network’

‘Really useful open day. I wasn’t previously aware of the facilities available at Boston Spa. I will be back as part of my research.’