This collection of books was given to the Library by Gertrude Bell's brother Maurice (1871-1944), most of which previously belonged to Sir Hugh and Sir Lowthian Bell (respectively their father and grandfather) who were both industrialists. The collection consists of approximately 500 books and is strongest in economics and industry, particularly coal-mining, railways and chemistry but also including iron, steel, explosives and oyster fisheries.Included are Beckly, H. The bankers' panic: a letter to the Right Honourable Benjamin Disraeli, M.P., First Lord of the Treasury (1875), Hole, J. The homes of the working classes, with suggestions for their improvement (1866) and works by two prominent women - the writer on science, mathematics and astronomy, Mary Somerville's Physical geography (1858) and one of the leaders of the suffrage movement, Millicent Garrett Fawcett's Political economy for beginners (1876).

The Entomology Collection currently contains books on insects which were published between the late-Eighteenth and mid-Nineteenth Centuries, some of which have hand-coloured illustrations. The books are written in English, French or German, for the most part, with some in Latin.

This collection of early works on agriculture is rich in eighteenth and nineteenth-century reports on farming in many parts of Great Britain. The collection had as its nucleus the historical library of the late Professor D.A. Gilchrist (d. 1927), who held the Chair of Agriculture in Armstrong College from 1902 to 1927.

A collection highlight is William Billington's A series of facts, hints, observations, and experiments on the different modes of raising young plantations of oaks (1825) which demonstrates the common preoccupation of many early nineteenth-century estate owners with growing trees which would be suitable for use in shipbuilding.

This collection of illustrations by local artist Thomas Hair (c.1810-1875) depicts the mining industry and the coal trade in the North East in the nineteenth century. The illustrations are based on Hair's watercolours on the same topic. The illustrations in the collection highlight numerous aspects of the region's mining heritage, including collieries, machinery, and river trade scenes. Many of the illustrations also show the everyday workings of the industry and those involved in it.

This is a small collection of notebooks and photograph albums which belonged to John William Heslop Harrison (1881-1967), at one time Professor of Botany at Newcastle University. The notebooks contain notes on plant biology, pollination and plant genetics while the albums include photographs of Iraq, dated 1938-1941. The collection also includes Proceedings of the University of Durham Philosophical Society 1955-1956 in various stages of editing.

The Merz Collection is the mathematical library of John Theodore Merz (1840-1922), an electrical engineer. Merz also had an interest in philosophy, and the collection also includes books amassed by him during the writing of his work The History of European Thought in the Nineteenth Century. These 4000 volumes are strongest in Mathematics and the History of European Thought, but also include notable works on science, European history and German Literature.A particular highlight is An investigation of the laws of thought: on which are founded the mathematical theories of logic and probabilities (1854) by George Boole, the English mathematician and philosopher, and inventor of Boolean logic, the basis of modern digital computer logic.The collection is also of interest for its book-bindings: mostly leather or half-leather bindings by Zaehnsdorf of London.

The Ritchie Collection comprises books, pamphlets, atlases and charts relating to the history of Hydrography, the branch of marine science concerned with studying, surveying and mapping the earth's seas and waters. The collection represents the personal library of the former Hydrographer to the Royal Navy, Rear Admiral George Stephen Ritchie (b. 1914). Its contents reflect Rear Admiral Ritchie's professional achievements, as well as his personal interest in the history of Hydrography and surveying. Technical and cartographic material sits alongside numerous primary and secondary texts on the history of Hydrography, as well as publications on the broader themes of seafaring and exploration.

There are contemporary accounts, including The Surveying Voyage of HMS Flag by Captain R. N. Blackwood (1848) and An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands by William Mariner (1817), as well as more recent histories such as Vice Admiral Sir Archibald Day's The Admiralty Hydrographic Service 1795-1919 (1967). The great pioneers in the field, including James Cook and William Fitzwilliam Owen, are also represented. Many of the secondary texts in the collection are authors' signed copies and Rear Admiral Ritchie's own works are present, too, including Challenger: the Life of a Survey Ship (1957), a biography of the ship commanded by him on a celebrated voyage of 1951-1952.