University of Manchester Library

The University of Manchester Library

Main Library, The University of Manchester Library, looking towards the entrance from Burlington Street.
Country	England
Type	Academic library
Established	1824
Location	Oxford Road, Manchester
Branches	ten
Collection
Items collected	books, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, maps, prints, drawings and manuscripts
Size	over 4 million items
Access and use
Population served	Greater Manchester and worldwide
Members	The University of Manchester (and some other groups on application)
Other information
Budget	subject to review
Director	Jan Wilkinson (Ms.)
Staff	ca. 100+
Website	http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk

The University of Manchester Library is The University of Manchester's library and information service. The main library is on the Oxford Road campus of the University with its entrance on Burlington Street; there are also ten satellite libraries.

In 1851 the library of Owens College was established at Cobden House on Quay Street, Manchester. This later became the Manchester University Library (of the Victoria University of Manchester) in 1904. In July 1972 this library merged with the John Rylands Library to become the John Rylands University Library of Manchester (JRULM).

On 1 October 2004 the library of the Victoria University of Manchester merged with the Joule Library of UMIST forming the John Rylands University Library (JRUL). The Joule Library was the successor of the library of the Manchester Mechanics' Institute (established in 1824) which later became the library of the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology (UMIST). One of the Institute's first actions was to establish a library, with a full-time librarian, at premises in King St., Manchester. The library changed its name in the summer of 2012 to become The University of Manchester Library.

The library is one of only five National Research Libraries - an award of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), and the only one in the north of England. It is a member of the North West Academic Libraries consortium (NoWAL) and of Research Libraries UK consortium (RLUK). RLUK was formerly the Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL) of which the library was a founder member in the 1980s.

The library has the largest non-legal deposit academic collection in the United Kingdom, the largest collection of electronic resources of any library in the UK and supports all subject areas taught by the University. The library provides its members with a range of services and materials, including an extensive collection of electronic resources. A range of services is provided for members of the public and schools.

The main building is on Burlington Street, west of Oxford Road: (building no. 55 on the University's Campus Guide): its oldest part is the east wing built in 1936: it was extended by south and west wings in 1953-56 and by the Muriel Stott Hall in 1978. Until 1965 it was known as the Arts Library. The Christie Building contained the library's scientific section and the medical library was in a separate building until 1981. An extension to the north designed by architects Dane, Scherrer & Hicks opened in 1981. (It had been designed in 1972 as the first instalment of a larger building.) The University of Manchester Library has a number of site libraries in other university buildings, including the Eddie Davies Library in the Manchester Business School and the Joule Library in the Sackville Street Building.