British Library - Put a spring in your step

Spring is the season for fresh beginnings and new discoveries. This April explore something new at the Library: travel back in time 250 years to join one of Captain James Cook's ground-breaking voyages, or perhaps unearth one of our fascinating Treasures in our free gallery. The Library is here to give you a wealth of exciting and inspiring ways to learn.

Free Treasures Gallery, open daily From Magna Carta and Shakespeare to Ada Lovelace and The Beatles. Discover some of the world's most exciting, beautiful and significant books, manuscripts and sound recordings that tell the remarkable stories of over two thousand years of human experience. Find out more > New exhibition opens this month Hear the stories. Read the journals. Immerse yourself in the momentous voyages made by Captain James Cook 250 years ago. Stunning landscape paintings and the first complete European charts of New Zealand sit alongside newly-commissioned films offering contemporary perspectives on these encounters with people of the Pacific. Book your voyage >

Latest stories Pause for a glorious Dawn Chorus During spring, birdsong strikes up well before dawn. Pause for a moment in your day to hear an East Sussex Dawn Chorus, featuring a choir of blackbirds, robins, wrens, song thrushes and many others in our online exhibition about the language of birds. Enjoy. Hear more > Fascinating observations in Abyssinia Discover how botanist Georg Wilhelm Schimper invigorated standard geographical maps with his observations of plant, soil and rock formations in Ethiopia in this blog. Read more > Manuscripts in Mali During 2012, collections of precious manuscripts were hidden in the Timbuktu desert to protect them from destruction in war. Our Endangered Archives Programme is now helping digitise them. Learn more in this short blog. Read more > From entrepreneurship to the economy Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE, founder of social enterprise STEMettes, met with Jack Dorsey, founder and CEO of Square, for an evening of empowering conversation here at the Library. Our blog covers all the highlights. Read more >

Animal Encounters  What can you learn about drawing from the sketches and watercolours of the artists on Cook's voyages, who were seeing penguins, kangaroos and bears for the first time? Join our masterclass to help develop your wildlife drawings. Book your course >

Views from Cook's first voyage From the first European depiction of surfing to the collecting of botanical samples, the documentation on Cook's voyages was more thorough than any before. Read our article to learn more >

Ideas are the seedlings of realities Grow your idea into something big this spring. This article highlights the key steps for the seedling stage of any business. Read more >

Gift ideas from our Shop Around the World  in 80 Maps £14.99 Buy now > Crystal Marquise Silver Globe £170.00 Buy now > James Cook: The Voyages Exhibition Book (Hardback) £40.00 Buy now > Compass Flask £12.50 Buy now > Browse the range >

A little extra How easy do you find our Reading Rooms to use? We're keen to find out from our beloved Readers Find out how to have your say >  Discover something new in our free online exhibitions. Featuring unique collection items and expert commentary, dive into topics from the story of Asians in Britain to a mass digitisation of feminist publication Spare Rib Explore today >