The Scotland's People Centre gives you dedicated space to carry out your research. You’ll be able to access and view all our digitised records and indexes, including modern day records.

You need to book a seat online before your visit. We cannot make bookings or take payments in-person.

Book a seat

Prices

Book a seat for £15.00 a day.

This will reserve your desk for the whole day (between 9:00-16:00).

Search room bookings are non-refundable but can be moved to another date. We require a minimum of 24 hours working day notice. Contact us if you’d like to change your booking.

Additional needs

If you need assistance in the event of an emergency, get in touch with us before your visit.

If you’re bringing a carer with you, please book seat R40.

Opening hours

We're open 9:00 - 16:00, Monday to Friday apart from public holidays.

Where to find us

National Records of Scotland
HM General Register House
2 Princes Street
Edinburgh
EH1 3YY

Additional costs

Printing copies of historic records costs 1 credit (25p) per page. 

The cost to save images to your account depends on the record. You can see costs on our charges.

What you can bring

Visitors can bring their own laptops to take notes and save copies of historical records, with pay-per-view charges applying. Small bags or backpacks are allowed in the search room. We do not permit visitors to bring in larger pieces of luggage.

Half day bookings

We can no longer offer half-day bookings under the current legal regulations. We know this service has been popular, so we're reviewing the legal regulations with a view to reintroducing a half-day option in the future.

In the meantime, we want to make sure our services remain as accessible as possible. In addition to our full day bookings, we’re offering a limited number of free 2-hour search sessions to personal users.

The free 2-hour sessions are available every second Thursday from 14:00-16:00, this quarter they are:

• May 28
• June 11 
• June 25

Free 2-hour sessions are not bookable, and are available to walk-in customers. Customers can use one free session per calendar month. Sessions can only be used for personal research and not for commercial use.