We have a large variety of collections in our libraries, available to view or borrow as a library member.
Please speak with a member of staff to find out how to access any of these collections.
Our fashion collection has been created to act as an important resource for anyone studying fashion.
Found in Bath Central Library, it’s made up of reference titles from our Historical Reference Collection, and more modern borrowable titles. The older reference titles are kept in the stack and the newer titles can be found in our Non Fiction section.
View our virtual exhibition ‘Fabulous Fashion’ to find out more.
We have collections of dyslexia friendly titles for adults and children in Bath, Keynsham and Midsomer Norton Libraries.
These books are specifically designed to help adults and children with Dyslexia enjoy reading. They use clear layouts, larger line spacing and wider margins to help readers follow the text more easily.
Gatehouse books at Bath Central Library
We have a collection of adult beginner readers, many of which have been written by adults who are themselves developing their literacy skills. Adults who are learning to read are inspired to read about someone like themselves and this can make their engagement with reading a richer and more memorable experience.
Quick Reads: short books and great stories by bestselling authors, written in an accessible and easy to read style
Quick Reads is a national scheme to produce condensed and straight-forward versions of popular novels for adults, designed to improve literacy and make fiction more accessible.
We have a collection of children’s braille books available to borrow at Bath Library. They are a mixture of full braille and braille alongside standard text.
We have large collections of large print titles at all our libraries, which include both fiction and non-fiction.
Story Sacks
Fun, interactive storytelling resources.
Bag Books
Specially designed sensory storytelling boxes for readers with special educational needs and disabilities.
Sensory Explorer Bags
For use at Bath Housing, Welfare and Advice Service, Bath, Keynsham, and Midsomer Norton Libraries and on the Mobile Library.
Bath, Keynsham and Midsomer Norton Libraries have collections of books about dementia and resources to help those with dementia.
Our Reminiscence packs are collections of pictures, with information about the image, on a theme. They are designed to spark memories and discussion points. We create many of these packs ourselves, so they feature images and themes from the local area.
Our Reading Well titles support you to understand and manage your health and wellbeing using helpful reading.
Reading Well books are all recommended by health experts, as well as people with lived experience of the conditions and topics covered and their relatives and carers.
Country Life magazine (full bound collection from 1897 to 2019)
Country Life is a British weekly magazine which includes articles on a wide variety of subjects, such as architecture, property, the arts, gardens and gardening, the countryside, schools and wildlife.
The Railway Magazine (full bound collection from 1897 to 2017)
The Railway Magazine is a monthly British railway magazine, aimed at the railway enthusiast market. The magazine is the most authoritative rail publication in Britain today.
Railway and Travel Monthly (bound collection from 1910–1916)
Railway and Travel Monthly was set up as a rival to the established Railway Magazine with a slightly different slant. The books are illustrated throughout with many colour and black and white fold-out plates of locomotives, liners, and maps. The Railway and Travel Monthly was bought by the owners of the Railway Magazine and merged in January 1923.
Japanese collection
We have a small collection of Japanese books in our Historical Reference Collection at Bath Central Library. View our virtual exhibition about this collection.
Trial and True Crime collection
Our Trial and True Crime Collection contains trial transcripts, stories of famous cases, memoirs, investigative journalism, newspaper serials and even satire.
Cases include murder, duels, slavery, rebellion, inheritance and theft, from the Peterloo Massacre to the Red Barn Murder, and are a fascinating history of law and society.
The collection dates from 1678 to 1948.