The Royal Observatory has a very substantial working library of astronomical books and periodicals and, in the Crawford Collection, arguably the world's finest collection of rare and historical books on astronomy and related topics. Most of the books, excepting those in the Crawford Collection, may be borrowed from the Library, subject to the requirement that they should be on site within office hours - ie. they may only be taken home overnight or over the weekend - although some books, and all periodicals, are for reference within the Library only. An Inter-Library Loan scheme operates through which one may borrow books from other libraries or obtain photocopies of articles from journals not to be found in the Library's own collection.
One of the library staff will give new research students a tour of the library, including the Crawford Collection, as well as an introduction to the indexing and borrowing systems used.
Photocopying of library material may be done, subject to copyright restrictions, using the photocopier in the Library. Other photocopiers are to be found in the Management Building, in the West Wing and next to the entrance to the Plate Library. Overhead projector slides must not be used in the Library photocopier but can be used in the West Wing photocopier with care. Private photocopying is allowed on the Library photocopier - users should sign in the book there and await a bill.