Visitors can consult works on iron extraction and processing, archaeology, the history of technology and transport, architecture, art history and wrought-iron work, economic and social history, earth sciences, physics, chemistry, mining and mining law, mineralogy and physical metallurgy, and materials testing. The first editions of the major encyclopaedias and lexica of the 18th and 19th centuries are also represented. The Iron Library possesses some 40,000 media on all aspects of the subject of iron. The Periodicals Room contains 650 journals, many of which are complete, going back to 1794. The Library subscribes to the most important current periodicals, which are kept up to date. A broad selection of encyclopaedias, reference works and manuals are available for consultation in the Reading Room.