The Orkney Library and Archive was founded in 1683 with a bequest of 150 books from William Baikie.

The current library building on Junction Road, Kirkwall opened in August 2003.

[6] The collection also includes letters from William Galloway to Sir Henry Dryden.

[8] The Library offers access to over 145,000 items, including fiction and non-fiction titles, audiobooks, maps, eBooks, music CDs and DVDs.

[10][11] J.K. Rowling paid a surprise trip to the library book group in 2016.