The Linen Hall Library on Donegall Square North is Belfast's oldest library and one of the last private subscription libraries in Ireland. The public reading room is open to visitors without a subscription, and the collection — books, maps, Irish genealogy records, and the extraordinary Troubles collection — is remarkable.
The Troubles archive is the library's most important asset: a complete record of the political literature produced by every faction during the conflict, from IRA army orders to loyalist pamphlets to British Army press releases. Researchers come from across the world to use it. For casual visitors, the reading room is a pleasant refuge in the city centre and the collection of 19th-century Belfast prints is worth browsing.