Our library is open to all - members visit free of charge and non-members pay a day pass fee of £20. You're welcome to visit any time during our opening hours: 10.30am-4.00pm Wed-Fri.
For one week per month we have extended opening hours. During extended opening weeks, the library will be open Wed-Sat 10.30am - 4.00pm, apart from an extension to 7pm on Thursday. See our Visit us page to find out the dates of extended hours weeks.
It's not necessary to book your visit, but if you are travelling a long distance and would like to reserve a library computer it's a good idea to pre-book your visit.
For information on how to book your visit, and other information about visiting us, please see our Visit Us page.
Not all of our collections are kept on-site, so if you need to order collection items from offsite storage, please order one week in advance using the Collections Order Form.
Use the following to find items that may be useful for your research, with details to include in your order form:
- NEW! SoG Researcher Handbook - find out what is in our collections, how to search them and how to access them.
- SoG Library Catalogue for published works. Look at the location field in catalogue records to find out if an item is held in the library or in our offsite store.
- Archives Finding Aids for items in our special collections, small collections and document collections. Use the information given in the finding aids to order archival items from our offsite store.
- Online Resources for resources members can access at home including digital resources and indexes, memorial cards and family trees. Here is a direct link to SoG Explore and the searchable A-Z List of datasets.
- Collections Guides (below) give an overall view of what is held in our collections, and some detail on particular subject areas. They are a great way of finding out more information about our holdings, their formats, and their availability. We're regularly creating more research guides and would be delighted to hear from you about any subjects you would like us to cover. To let us know your thoughts or to inquire about specific collections, please contact collections@sog.org.uk
If you’re planning to visit us we recommend that you watch Else Churchill’s video guide here.
Can't visit us? See details on accessing collections remotely.
Donating to the Society of Genealogists' collections
Library: Let us know if you wish to donate published works for inclusion in our library collection - library@sog.org.uk. Particular subjects of interest to our members are: family history; local and general history relating to places in the UK, Ireland, British colonies and crown dependencies; genealogical reference and instructional works, such as research and record guides; name-rich resources such as directories; topical resources for military history, heraldry, and professions.
Larger collections of published works require a great deal of processing and cataloguing, so please send a list to the email address above so we can check against our catalogue.
Duplicate items and items outside our collection policy are passed to our bookshop to raise funds for the library.
Archive: Depositing your research is a great way to ensure that your research survives, is well cared for and available to other family researchers in the future. Information about donating research collections is given on our Collection Deposit page. Archive collection deposits are subject to an approval process. The first step is to fill in the form on the collection deposit page to tell us about the content, size and condition of the collection. Enquiries about depositing research can be sent to archive@sog.org.uk
Digital Journal Exchange
The Society of Genealogists has a history of journal exchanges with kindred organisations.
If your historical society, genealogical society or record society produces a digital journal containing substantial historical content you may be interested in exchanging it with us for our quarterly Genealogists' Magazine. We are proud to say that Genealogists' Magazine is now over 100 years old - the first issue appeared in 1925.
Journal exchange partners agree to:
- provide the exchange journal for their members' personal and educational use, and to ensure there is no distribution of the exchange journal for profit
- share the exchanged journal with their members in a secure way - on internal computers at their premises, or in a password-protected part of their website reserved for members - and not engage in direct distribution to members in any form, nor make the journal openly accessible to any visitor on their website
- respect the intellectual rights and copyright of their exchange partners and not to modify the exchange journal, or reproduce any parts of it in other works without consent and proper attribution. Permission to use parts of our Society's publications in other works and information about attribution can be sought by contacting genenquiries@sog.org.uk
If you have any questions, or if you are interested in entering into a journal exchange agreement with the Society of Genealogists, contact us at library@sog.org.uk
Collections Guides
1. Online Resources
A guide to our online collections and subscription databases
2. Library Resources
A guide to our library collections
3. Archive Resources
A guide to our archive collections
4. Jewish Genealogy Resources
A guide to sources for researching Jewish ancestors
September 2025 Library Update
· We now have over 25,800 catalogue records pointing to items held permanently in the library. We continue to add library tracts and we expect these to be all completed before the end of the year. We will then turn our attention to a number of other library sections to bring onsite permanently, to increase the range of resources available to library users without needing to pre-order. We also continue to amend the catalogue records of microfiche held permanently in the library so that the catalogue will reflect that they are onsite. The inspection and sorting of microfiche onsite has resumed and when work on this is complete these items will become available on closed access and without pre-ordering.
The Archives finding Aids Folder for Small and Special Collections has been recently updated and contains 606 reports. Our Archives Assistant is working hard to create digital catalogue records for all our special collections, and is inspecting and creating records for collections without traditional reports.
· Resources on SoG Explore: Important behind-the-scenes progress is well underway on the Monumental Inscriptions Project. Before documents, packed with invaluable genealogical information, can be uploaded online, they need careful preparation before they are ready to use. This work has been completed for Bedfordshire and Berkshire, and is underway for Buckinghamshire. To maximise usability, supporting documentation is being created to assist researchers and smooth navigation, while also highlighting interesting stories and entries for media/marketing use. So, while no documents have been uploaded yet, crucial preparation has been made to ensure these collections are not only available online, but ready for meaningful use.
· Information Provision Review: A draft copy of the final report has been submitted to the CEO for discussion. The report contains five main recommendations and nine related actions.
· Student Intern: We will have a student of genealogy from the United States joining us for three months from September. The Society has a tradition of hosting students from Brigham Young University and they have made very good contributions to our work over the years. We look forward to telling you more about Juliette and her work as her internship progresses.
· Featured Collection: The Jun-Sep Featured Collection contains over 250 books from the UK Peerage/Royalty collection. As always, the Featured Collection can be found adjacent to the common area next to the library. With the featured collection, you'll find a printed list of general peerage items recently added permanently to the library shelves (in the rolling shelves next to Heraldry), and information about a link to the recording of Else Churchill's related talk entitled 'Sources for Titled and Landed Families in the SoG’s Library'. A link to the video can be found on the Library Web Guide on all library computers, and headphones are kept at the Information Desk in the library.
We are planning our next Featured Collection to be installed late September and there will be news of this in the next update.
· Collections Corner: The next Genealogists Magazine (September) will contain an article by our volunteer Harry about a special and curious item from our archives. Look out for A Priest’s Voice in a Divided England: The Life and Legacy of John Featley Through His Notebook.
· Events in the Library: The next collections related talks and library tours will be Researching in Gloucestershire on 17 September, and Researching in Devon on 22 October. Collections Up Close: School Registers and Records on 15 October, Discover Your Huguenot Heritage on 24 October.
· The next late opening Thursdays (open until 7pm) will be 4 September and 2 October. The next two Saturday openings (10.30am-4.00pm) will be 6 September and 4 October.
You can come any time during our opening hours without booking and if you would like to guarantee the use of a library computer you can email hello@sog.org.uk. Please do use the collections order form (link at the top of this page) if you need to order collection items from offsite storage.
Christine Worthington
Research Collections Coordinator
collections@sog.org.uk
Access Collections Remotely
- Members who cannot visit us can use our library catalogue and (with your member login) search our online collections, for any items that may assist your research.
- Send your research questions to genenquiries@sog.org.uk. Our genealogy staff can assist our members with general research inquiries and help you identify the right resources for your needs whether they be held in our collections, online or elsewhere.
- If you have identified an item of interest in the Society of Genealogists' library or archive collections - contact our genealogy staff who can interrogate items for you - see Genealogy Search/Copy Service below.
- We are preparing to implement a Virtual Reading Room service in 2025 - keep an eye on this page for information about this.
Genealogy Search/Copy Service
The genealogy team can offer a limited search copy service to look at items within our library and collections and make copies where appropriate.
- To request a search please email genenquiries@sog.org.uk enclosing information about what you wish to be searched. Please include any links to the catalogue or digital collections if appropriate. We will then check the item, order it from the store if needed, and let you know as soon as possible what the search copy fees will likely be and how payment may be made.
- Generally, a search can be made to see if we hold the item and copy the appropriate pages or entries after receipt of the Society’s library handling/search fee of £20 (members £15, please quote your membership number)
- Most searches will not exceed half an hour. Up to five copies of pages are included in the initial handling/search fee.
- Additional pages (if found) will be supplied for 50 pence per A4 sized original and £1 per A3 size.
- If copies are posted overseas postage charges will be applied.
- Alternatively, scanned pdf/jpeg images (as appropriate and if possible) will be emailed at the same price.
Do You Need to Engage a Professional Researcher?
The Society of Genealogists cannot undertake lengthy genealogical research or look at sources outside its collections. If you are looking for a professional researcher to carry out more in-depth or comprehensive research on your behalf, please take a look at our comprehensive guide Employing a Professional Genealogist, which provides details on both the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA) and the Register of Qualified Genealogists (RQG).
Join us
As a member, you can make the most of our resources, access our experts, and find a welcoming community of people interested in family history and genealogy.
We all have roots. Let’s find them together.
