National Museums Collection Centre is the location of the majority of our collections. It has facilities for undertaking research on collections, as well as conservation and scientific research laboratories. 

Those wishing to research the collections should contact the relevant curatorial department. Appointments have to be made in advance and we advise two working weeks as a minimum application turnaround. All research applications will be assessed according to departmental availability. 

Those wishing to enquire about access to the collections for scientific research, should first contact the relevant curatorial department, who will refer the enquiry to the Collections Science team for review.

Our library services support the research and learning needs of Museum staff, visitors, and the wider external research community, while the National Museums Scotland Research Repository contains recently published articles and books written by our staff. The archive enables us to make our research more widely available to all and to ensure materials are preserved to maintain access in the future.