Reading room
From the entrance hall on the 1st floor you enter the shared reading room of the Preservation Division (Varðveislusvið). Material from the National Collection, the Special collections, the Women’s History Archives and the Manuscript Collection may only be used in this reading room. The room has about 50 desks, 4 of them with computers. The reference works in the room are mainly for Icelandic studies, but the Supreme Court judgments (Hæstaréttardómar), the Parliamentary Record (Alþingistíðindi) and the Government Gazette (Stjórnartíðindi) are also there. Please sign the guest book and leave coats and bags in the cloakroom and the lockers in the entrance hall before you go into the reading room.
National Collection
You can request items for the reading room with the online form or fill in a request on the spot, and staff fetch them for you. The items belong to the Library’s preservation collection and are therefore not lent out.
Opening hours
Special collections
National Collection staff bring items from the special collections to the reading room on request; you can send a request online or fill one in at the National Collection desk.
Women’s History Archives
Items are for use in the reading room and are issued from the National Collection of the National and University Library of Iceland unless stated otherwise. Order material from the Women’s History Archives staff by phone, e-mail or in person.
Opening hours
Manuscript Collection
You can order material for the reading room by phone, e-mail or in person. Staff fetch it from the Library’s secure storage twice a day, so orders must be in by 9:30 and 13:30.