The Rare Books section comprises a rich collection of rare books, maps, and special collections. This section contains more than 15,000 rare books, the oldest of which dates back to the year 1496, and 700 periodicals (54,000 issues) and 66,000 books from special collections. The Special Collections section contains whole library collections that have been gifted to the BA by public figures, such as the late President Mohamed Anwar el-Sadat, Sultan Qaboos, Dr. Abdel Razek el-Sanhoury, and Dr. Hussein Heikal.

This section does not specialize only in preserving culture heritage; it also contains a reading area (B2 floor) that offers research services for readers and graduate students. Photocopying books is allowed, at the price of 20 piasters per page, but no more than 20% of a book can be photocopied. Some books cannot be photocopied at all due to their fragile condition.