Facts and figures

The University of Manchester Library is one of the great libraries of the world.

It sits at the heart of England’s first and most eminent civic university, welcoming millions of students, researchers and visits every year to its eight sites, which include The John Rylands Library, home to one of the most remarkable university Special Collections in the world.

Our history

1851 The library of Owens College is established, made up of collections brought together from the Manchester Mechanics' Institute, the Manchester Medical Society and the Manchester Royal Infirmary
1904 Owens College becomes Victoria University of Manchester by royal charter and the Library becomes the Manchester University Library
1972 The Library is merged with the John Rylands Library to become the John Rylands University Library of Manchester
1983 Becomes one of the founding members of Research Libraries UK
2004 Victoria University of Manchester merges with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology; the libraries merge to form the John Rylands University Library
2008 Library designated as one of five National Research Libraries, the only one in the North of England
2012 The library changes its name to The University of Manchester Library to differentiate it from The John Rylands Library in the city centre

Our spaces

Six Library sites across the University
- Main Library
- The John Rylands Library (Deansgate)
- Alan Gilbert Learning Common
- Art and Archaeology Library
- Eddie Davies Library (Alliance Manchester Business School)
- Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre (at Central Library)
8,414 individual study spaces
700 workstations
56,327 square metres of floor space

The John Rylands Library (Deansgate)

1900 The dramatic neo-gothic cathedral to learning opened after 10 years of construction overseen by Enriqueta Rylands. The Library honours her late husband John Rylands, a wealthy Manchester textile merchant
1972 Combined with The University of Manchester as the home of one of the most remarkable university special collections libraries in the world
1994 Awarded Grade I listed status
2007 The John Rylands Library reopens to the public with a new entrance and new Reading Room and conservation facilities after a three-year transformation to preserve and unlock the building and its collections
2013 The John Rylands Research Institute founded to open up the Special Collections to all
2025 Completion of The John Rylands Library Next Chapter project, with new exhibition space and 125th year celebrations

Our resources

Largest academic digital collections in Britain
1,428,691 e-books (excluding free books)
2,026,898 catalogued physical items
38,020 paid-for serial titles (includes journals, periodicals, annuals, newspapers and conference proceedings)
Over 700 databases
6,421 metres of archives and manuscripts
120 laptops and iPads available for loan
3,452 items were purchased through our student-facing Order A Book scheme
Our eTextbook Programme provided students on 1,115 course units with access to their own personal copy of their ‘core reading’ as a downloadable interactive eTextbook. Over 120,710 copies were provided, reaching over 34,747 students (2023/24 data)

Our learning support

13,500+ student attendances at workshops and events run by My Learning Essentials, the Library’s award-winning skills programme (total attendance)
4,000+ student attendances at events run by My Research Essentials, the Library’s researcher developer programme (total attendance)
1,400+ attendances at events and appointments run by Specialist Library Support, the Library’s expert support programme for students, staff and researchers (total attendance)
Our open online resources were accessed around 100,000 times, and our subject guides over 400,000 times

Our expenditure

Over £13 million spent on information provision and access

Office for Open Research

3,800+ journal articles published Open Access each year, through management of funding requests, provision of nearly 30 publisher agreements, and deposit of manuscripts to the University’s Current Research Information System, Pure.
1,300+ Data Management Plans fully reviewed each year, in addition to review of hundreds of initial outline checks, providing expert advice on appropriate management of data, working in partnership with the Information Governance Office and Research Ethics and Integrity.
60+ interactive workshops delivered to over 500 researchers, students and staff members via the Library’s My Research Essentials (MRE) training programme in 2024-25.
13+ Fellows supported via our Open Research Fellowship Programme, including includes funding and buyout of time to explore their Open Research ambitions and enhance Open Research practices within their disciplines.
11 Open Research systems supported via subscriptions and premium access, including research management systems, research intelligence tools, and storing and sharing platforms, and in addition to the bespoke Open Research Tracker developed to enable access to Library publications data, REF OA compliance information, and to request research intelligence analysis.
30+ longform research outputs published Open Access since 2020, through management of research funder grants for monographs; our annual Open Access monograph competition; and funding for innovative and sustainable monograph publishing schemes established in partnership with the Library’s Metadata and Discovery, and Acquisitions teams.

Special Collections

75 million items spanning nearly 5,000 years, written in more than 50 languages and written on virtually every medium ever employed, from clay tablets to email
Oldest items Cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia (Iraq) dating from 3^rd millennium BC
Most famous item Fragment of John’s Gospel, widely regarded as the earliest part of any New Testament writing in existence
Biggest book Birds of America by John James Audubon
Heaviest book A giant Qur’an made in Egypt in the late 14^th century, weight 52kgs
Smallest book The Alphabet Book which measures 2.5mm high
Over 90,000 Special Collections items digitised and freely available online via our digital collections

Find out more

If you have any questions about this information, or would like to find out more please contact Michael Douglas.