Welcome to Senate House Libraries

Senate House Library and the Libraries of the Institutes of the School of Advanced Study operate under the collective title of Senate House Libraries. The previous umbrella name, University of London Research Library Services (ULRLS) was replaced by Senate House Libraries on 1 April 2011. The individual titles and the names of the Institute Libraries within Senate House Libraries are retained.

The combined holdings of the libraries amount to almost 3 million volumes, including many thousands of journals, and numerous deep and rich collections of research materials in subjects across the humanities and social sciences. The special collections embrace spectacular treasures like Shakespeare’s First Folio or the Coverdale Bible; renowned collections like the Goldsmiths’ Library of Economic Literature; and unusual and unique resources like the Harry Price Magic collection, the political pamphlets of the Institutes of Commonwealth and Latin American Studies, or the 300,000 photographs in the Warburg Institute.

Altogether the libraries provide over 12 miles of open shelf access to collections, an important aspect of the resource which few libraries can match. These traditional materials are complemented by a growing range of e-resources.