Edinburgh Libraries

Digital visualisation of Dundee Street and Angle Park Terrace at the junction with Henderson Terrace.

We’re looking for your views on our plans to improve provision for walking, wheeling and cycling along Dundee Street and in the wider Fountainbridge area.

The consultation is open until 12 January 2026.

Unbelievable, but true - you can borrow (for free) and listen (without waiting) to the bestselling The Wedding People (the book everyone's talking about!). Borrow today from uLIBRARY, just sign in with your Edinburgh Libraries membership card www.edinburgh.gov.uk/ulibrary

Photographs with text are displayed on black boards in the entrance to Central Library.

We were so impressed by the photographs and memories submitted to our 'Unearthed Edinburgh' competition that we've decided to put a selection on display this month at Central Library.
If you can't drop by to see it, you'll find them all on Edinburgh Collected, our community archive zurl.co/rCsTN

Good news - Piershill Library are back open as normal.
Apologies again for any inconvenience their late opening may have caused.

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, Piershill Library is unable to open this morning.
Apologies for any inconvenience caused. We will provide an update as soon as the situation changes.

Please treat yourself and listen to this month's Talking Books Book Club title - Frank & Red. A story of intergenerational friendship that you won't forget. Borrow for free with no wait from uLIBRARY, login with your Edinburgh Libraries membership card.
zurl.co/bjBNb

Visit the #ArtAndDesignLibrary at Central Library to see Touching Wood, this month's exhibition by Hillside Visually Impaired Art group.
zurl.co/ZnjGJ

Central Library’s Children’s Art Club returns for autumn 2025 Are you aged 5 to 11? Do you like to make things? (Or do you know someone who is and does?!) Central Library have several upcoming Children's Art Clubs. They will be held on the following Saturday mornings from 10.30am to 12 noon. Saturday 4 October – waiting list available Look out for details on…

Central Library’s Children’s Art Club returns for autumn 2025!
zurl.co/mxQ0z

Listen for free to all Robert Galbraith Strike novels including the latest The Hallmarked Man - no queues, available immediately from uLIBRARY! Login with your Edinburgh Libraries membership card! www.edinburgh.gov.uk/ulibrary

A person walks into the distance along a leaf-covered path and between tall trees.

Today we share the ‘eerie beauty’ as the haar descends in our #ThrowbackThursday taken ten years ago.
It’s a fantastic picture of autumn in Edinburgh, but do you recognise the park?
zurl.co/ffFsh
Photo thanks to lynpic501

Advertisement for celery coffee which states that it is a great nerve and brain strengthener and restorer. Prepared solely from celery, guaranteed pure and unmixed. By royal letters patent. Features in 'Our Own Gazette' July 1892.

Fancy a pleasant change from your ordinary drink? We give you “the great nerve and brain strengthener and restorer.”

Yes, celery coffee was a thing in 1892.

This advertisement is from the Young Women’s Christian Association’s ‘Our Own Gazette’.

#InternationalCoffeeDay #WorldVegetarianDay

Person using laptop and mobile phone with tablet device next to laptop

On Tuesday 30 September, 8-11pm there will be no access to online catalogue, your library account and library app, customers may not be able to log in to some online services. This is to allow for essential maintenance. We apologise for the inconvenience this will cause.

BFI Replay poster with image stills from TV programmes

Delve into the recorded past for fun, discovery, nostalgia, or research. Stream thousands of videos and TV programmes from the last 60 years with BFI Replay at your local library. zurl.co/YDrqI

A black and white photograph of a 1960s shop window display for women's below-the-knee wool skirts.

#ThrowbackThursday to September 1963 and Patrick Thomson’s department store on North Bridge was swinging into Autumn with a promotion for ‘Gor Ray’ skirts. The company produced popular and flattering skirts with pioneering permanent pleats!
zurl.co/LIWMQ
Photo thanks to Living Memory Association

Edinburgh’s largest Volunteer Recruitment Fair
📅 Tuesday 30 September 2025 | ⏰ 10:00 – 17:30
📍 St Paul’s & St George’s Church, York Place
Looking to volunteer? Meet dozens of organisations face to face
Free entry | 1000+ visitors expected
Don’t miss your chance to discover how you can get involved!

A leather collar with brass plaque, ring and buckle inscribed with 'Greyfriars Bobby from the Lord Provost'.

Our #Edinburgh900 exhibition is now complete and includes this item representing one of Edinburgh's best-loved stories...
Greyfriars Bobby was given this collar by the Lord Provost in 1867!
See many more intriguing items from nine centuries of city life at zurl.co/JtYki

900 years of Edinburgh’s history in 10 stories To mark the 900th anniversary of Edinburgh gaining burgh status from King David I, we set off last October to tell the history of the city through the ten 'Edinburgh 900' campaign themes. Last month we published the final story and you can now read them all on Our Town Stories. Edinburgh from Princes Street,…

As the year of celebrating #Edinburgh900 draws to a close, we review the 10 stories specially created to tell 900 years of Edinburgh’s history on Our Town Stories
zurl.co/ZeNoV

So good to hear that you're continuing to dig deeper into your family history!

It's Maths Week Scotland! Check out our brilliant range of kids maths ebooks on Libby. Borrow today with your library card!
zurl.co/lpVxY

Four separate images. Bessie Watson is a young girl wearing a tartan dress and a sash with the words Votes for Women plays the bagpipes, stencil portrait of Malvina Wells, a group eating or waiting for ice creams gathers around a Pure Luca Ices van, Edinburgh City Vision 2050 logo featuring panorama of city from Calton Hill

Four separate images. Bessie Watson is a young girl wearing a tartan dress and a sash with the words Votes for Women plays the bagpipes, stencil portrait of Malvina Wells, a group eating or waiting for ice creams gathers around a Pure Luca Ices van, Edinburgh City Vision 2050 logo featuring panorama of city from Calton Hill

The final chapter in the Our Town Stories #Edinburgh900 series looking at the city’s history over the past 900 years explores Edinburgh a City of Diversity, celebrating the city’s multicultural landscape and the 2050 City Vision for a diverse and vibrant future for the city zurl.co/E60BX

The background is lime green. At the top of the image, the text “Celebrate #ebooklove on September 18th” appears in white bubble letters with a navy-blue shadow. Below, a tablet with a blue screen displays a white book page being turned. In the top-right corner of the tablet, the Read an Ebook Day logo appears, consisting of a tablet icon and the words READ AN EBOOK DAY in capital letters. In the bottom-left corner, the Libby logo and tagline “The library reading app” are displayed in white.

Celebrate Read an Ebook Day today! Borrow an ebook from Libby and share your
what you’re reading with #ebooklove on social media! www.edinburgh.gov.uk/libby

A bunch of flowers sits in the basket of a bike which is stood on a cycle path.

Today’s #ThrowbackThursday shows a beautiful seasonal harvest from Craigentinny allotment and is one of the many fantastic entries we received to our Unearthed Edinburgh photography competition.
Photo thanks to Hannah Ayre via EdinburghCollected
zurl.co/rvhXk

Poster for Family History session at Central Library features a photograph of a family group on the banks of a canal.

Want to find out how to start your family tree?
Come along to our beginners’ #FamilyHistory session at Central Library on Thursday 25 September at 2pm to find out how to use the library's free online and physical resources. Book your place by emailing informationdigital@edinburgh.gov.uk

Reference Library closed access stock – a project update, September 2025 If you have visited the Reference Library at Central Library, you will likely be familiar with one of the building's notable architectural features: the gallery shelving. These impressive double-height shelves represent a remarkable example of Sir George Washington Browne's library design which continue to delight both regular readers and new visitors alike. Selected design for…

In the our latest blog post, Central Library colleagues give an update on their project to reorganise the closed access Reference Library books stored on the gallery shelves and reveal the 'secret doorways' to this upper shelving level...
zurl.co/dBOhZ

Copper fire mark features two repoussé hands shaking above the insurance policy number, '5J3J`.

See the final selection of objects in our #Edinburgh900 exhibition at zurl.co/cDlRp
Every object tells a story - before a city fire brigade, landlords could pay an insurance company to protect their property. Fire marks like this proved to firefighters that the owner was insured!

#genealogy #LocalHistory #Scotland #FamilyHistory #research #conference 🗃️📚🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Children’s books which celebrate our different brains In Matilda, author Roald Dahl wrote, "Everyone is born. But not everyone is born the same. One way or another though, every human being is unique." As an autistic woman who grew up confused by my different brain, unsure if it made me ‘less than', rather than just different, I think this quote is great.…

Our latest blog post highlights some children’s books which celebrate neurodiversity that you can borrow from the library
zurl.co/IizJb

Poster promoting BFI Replay with stills from TV programmes

Delve into the recorded past for fun, discovery, nostalgia, or research. Stream thousands of videos and TV programmes from the last 60 years with BFI Replay at your local library zurl.co/P8pau

A yellowed certificate for payment of annual duty on hair powder dated 1795.

More fascinating items from 900 years of city life have been added to our digital exhibition on Capital Collections, including this certificate from 1795 issued to James Rocheid of Inverleith, for payment of a new tax on hair powder!
Browse the full #Edinburgh900 exhibition at zurl.co/Sz9Bm

Three separate images. Bessie Watson is a young girl wearing a tartan dress and a sash with the words Votes for Women plays the bagpipes, stencil portrait of Malvina Wells, a group eating or waiting for ice creams gathers around a Pure Luca Ices van.

Three separate images. Bessie Watson is a young girl wearing a tartan dress and a sash with the words Votes for Women plays the bagpipes, stencil portrait of Malvina Wells, a group eating or waiting for ice creams gathers around a Pure Luca Ices van.

Three separate images. Bessie Watson is a young girl wearing a tartan dress and a sash with the words Votes for Women plays the bagpipes, stencil portrait of Malvina Wells, a group eating or waiting for ice creams gathers around a Pure Luca Ices van.

The final chapter in the Our Town Stories #Edinburgh900 series looking at the city’s history over the past 900 years explores Edinburgh a City of Diversity, celebrating the city’s multicultural landscape and the 2050 City Vision for a diverse and vibrant future for the cityhttps://zurl.co/fqzfa