Specialist Libraries

London is home to hundreds of specialist libraries, many of which hold collections of national importance. They may be housed in charities and the voluntary sector, part of learned societies or independent collections open solely to members.

The list at the bottom of this page is just a small sample of specialist libraries in London with public access.

How can I use a specialist library?

Some collections are not open to members of the public, but there are many who are willing to allow users access to their collections if they cannot find the information they need elsewhere.

If the subject you are interested in happens to boast a London library, you may be about to discover an Aladdin's Cave on your doorstep! To browse these collections by subject click on the "Browse collections" link at the left hand side of this page and find out more.

Some specialist libraries have also joined the Inspire London scheme and you can gain access for a single reference only visit if you are a member of your public library.

Name	Description	Address	Access Policy
Anti-Slavery International	Literature from the Transatlantic Slave Trade to slavery today, including every form of slavery that the Anti-Slavery Society has campaigned on since 1839 Collections on the fight for land rights of indigenous people in Africa during the 19th and 20th. Also important contemporary collections on child labour.	Thomas Clarkson House, The Stableyard, Broomgrove Road, London SW9 9TL Tel: 020 7501 8939 Email: library@antislavery.org	Public access; appointment essential
Association of Commonwealth Universities	Higher education in the commonwealth (The library is due for refurbishment which may affect accessibility, please check ACU web site for details.)	36 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PF Tel: 020 7380 6700 Email: info@acu.ac.uk	Public access; telephone call from referring library required
Barnardo's Library and Information Services	A collection of more than 15,000 books, pamphlets, videos and multimedia items and a major UK collection for childcare students and practitioners	Tanners Lane, Barkingside, Ilford IG6 1QG Tel: 0208 498 7146 Email:	Public access; appointment essential
bfi National Library	The British Film Institute holds a major collection of documents relating film and television with an emphasis on British media.	21 Stephen Street London W1T 1LN Tel: 0207 255 1444 Email:	Membership library
Bishopsgate Institute	Special collections on London, and on free-thought and working class movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. Valuable resources for local and family historians. £1 per hour Internet access.	230 Bishopsgate London EC2M 4QH Tel: 020 7392 9270 Email: library@bishopsgate.org.uk	Public access
British Institute of Radiology	The information centre is a specialized postgraduate collection, primarily dealing with current research, but also possessing historical and archival material in its archive collection dating back to 1895 and the discovery of X-rays.	36 Portland Place, London W1B 1AT Tel: 020 7307 1405 Email: kate.sanders@bir.org.uk	Public access; appointment essential
British Library	The National Library with specialist collections in arts, maps, science and business information including patents, philatelic collections and sound recordings.	96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB Tel: 020 7412 7677 Email: reader-admissions@bl.uk	LLiL form
British Olympic Foundation	The British Olympic Association (BOA) houses the most complete ?Olympic? library in the UK. Along with general information about the Olympic Movement, there is a complete set of Official Reports, BOA Official Reports & Handbooks from each of the Olympic Games.	1 Wandsworth Plain, London SW18 1EH Tel: 020 8871 2677 Email: boa@boa.org.uk	Public access; appointment essential
British Red Cross	Includes a modern collection of approximately 3,500 books, mainly concerned with the work of the Red Cross, Armed Conflicts, Disasters, International Aid, Geneva Conventions, Human Rights, Community Care, First Aid, Voluntary Organizations and Fundraising. There is also a small museum relating to the history of the Red Cross and an historical reference library.	Kensington & Chelsea 9 Grosvenor Crescent, London SW1X 7EJ Tel: 020 7201 5011 Email: enquiry@redcross.org.uk	Public access; appointment essential
CILT Resources Library	The library offers a unique reference collection covering all aspects of language teaching and learning, including an extensive range of in-print teaching materials. Special collections include NACELL and the HE Resources Collections. Open without prior appointment to all language professionals, including teachers, trainee teachers, advisers, teacher trainers, modern language publishers, researchers and to others with an interest in modern languages	20 Bedfordbury, London WC2N 4LB Tel: 020 7379 5110 Email: library@cilt.org.uk	Public access
City Business Library	Public reference library specialising in business information enquiries covering the UK and overseas both in printed and electronic format. Core subject areas are banking; investment; finance; companies information; market research and management. Largest collection of UK and overseas directories and telephone directories in the country. Please note: you might need to provide a recognised form of ID in order to view some items.	1 Brewers' Hall Garden (off Aldermanbury Square), London EC2V 5BX Tel: 020 7332 1812 Email: cbl@corpoflondon.gov.uk	Public access
Commission for Racial Equality	History of ethnic minorities in Britain and Europe, criminal justice system, education, employment, Europe, housing, immigration, media, politics, religious discrimination, young people	201-211 Borough High Street London SE1 1GZ Tel: 020 7939 0091 or 020 7939 0059 Email: -	LLiL form; telephone call from referring library required
Crafts Council Resouce Centre	The Crafts Council Reference Library is a small but specialist library offering information on contemporary craft. However, the Library is only part of our service as we also provide access via touchscreen computers to ?Photostore?, the Crafts Council?s visual database of contemporary craft. Visitors can browse over 40,000 images of craft objects and obtain colour printouts for £2.50 per page, biographies of the makers for £1 each and slide loans from £10 upwards. We also have an Information Desk, which deals with enquiries by phone, email, fax or letter on issues relating to contemporary craft. Our current users range from members of the public with an interest in craft, to school pupils, to post graduate level. We are also used by craft professionals as we have a business section in our library with publications such as ?Grantfinder? to help craftspeople start out in business.	44a Pentonville Road, Islington, London N1 9BY Tel: 020 7806 2501 Email: Reference@craftscouncil.org.uk	Public access
English Folk Dance and Song Society	See Vaughan Williams Memorial Library	. . Tel: . Email: .
Freemasonry, Library and Museum of	Specialist reference Library comprising printed books and archives, dating from the early eighteenth century, on the history and development of freemasonry in this country and abroad. The Library is open to all for reference purposes without a prior appointment, Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm. All readers are required to register on arrival and show identification which includes their current address. Visitors are also welcome to browse in the Museum and take a tour of the building. For further details of tours please visit the website.	Freemasons' Hall, 60 Great Queen Street London. WC2B 5AZ Tel: 020 7395 9257 Email: libmus@ugle.org.uk	Public access
Goethe-Institut Library & Information Centre	The Goethe-Institut is Germany's biggest mediator of foreign cultural policy. The Library & Information Centre serves as a resource for those interested in contemporary Germany, and for those interested in teaching and studying German as a foreign language. More than 30,000 books, videos, audio-cassettes and computer software are available. In addition, we offer computers for access to the Internet in Germany and an extensive on-line directory of relevant German websites.	50 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2PH Tel: 020 7596 4044 Email: library@london.goethe.org	Public access
Guildhall Library	The original library at Guildhall was founded in the 1420s under the terms of the will of Richard Whittington. Today, it is a major public reference library which specialises in the history of London, especially the City, as well as having other significant collections: business history, English law and parliamentary papers, marine history, wine and food, clocks and watchmaking.	Aldermanbury, London EC2P 2EJ Tel: 020 7332 1868 / 020 7332 1870 Email: printedbooks.guildhall@corpoflondon.gov.uk
Halley Stewart Library, St Christopher's Hospice	A specialist library with a multi-disciplinary collection of material on all aspects of palliative care and allied subjects. Although catering mainly for health professionals the library has resources about bereavement - particularly concerning children that could be of use to the more general reader.	51-59 Lawrie Park Road Sydenham London SE26 6DZ Tel: 020 8768 4500 Email:	Public access; appointment essential
Horniman Library	The Library contains over 20,000 books, 100 current journal titles and audio-visual material on: Ethnography, Natural History, Musical Instruments	100 London Road, Forest Hill, London SE23 3PQ Tel: 020 8291 8681 Email: Enquiry@horniman.ac.uk	Public access
Huguenot Library	Small independent reference library and archive housed within University College London Special Collections. The focus of the collection is the social history of Huguenot refugees in the UK, but there are also works on the history of Huguenots in other countries, including France. The wide range of genealogical resources will be of particular interest to family historians. The Library is open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and all are welcome, although a reader fee is payable. Booking beforehand is essential, as space in the Reading Room is limited. Please see the Library website for more details about the collections, to access the catalogue and to find out about visiting arrangements.	The Huguenot Library, University College, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT Tel: 020 7679 5199 Email:	Public access; appointment essential
Imperial War Museum Library	Vast reference library on conflict involving Britain and the Commonwealth since 1914, including regimental histories, personal accounts of experience at war and on the home front, propaganda, pamphlets, maps, journals and other printed material. The enquiry service can advise on family history sources relating to military and wartime service. In the Reading Room, open Mon-Sat 10-5, you can see all this and view the paper archives, listen to sound recordings and search online resources. Under 15s must be accompanied by an adult.	Imperial War Museum Lambeth Road London SE1 6HZ Tel: 020 7416 5342 Email: books@iwm.org.uk	Public access; appointment essential
Institut Français du Royaume-Uni Multimedia Lib.	Language publications, French literature and linguistics, social and human sciences, sciences and technology	17 Queensbury Place London SW7 2DT Tel: 020 7073 1350 Email: library@ambafrance.org.uk	Public access
Institute of Alcohol Studies	Temperance collections. The following subjects are also covered: alcohol addiction, alcoholism, alcohol advocacy, brewing and licensed trade, drink driving and road safety, licencing law, policing and control, medical and health effects, policy studies, social problems, social welfare and social policy, temperance and prohibition	Alliance House 12 Caxton Street London SW1H 0QS Tel: 020 7222 4001 (switchboard) Email: librarian@ias.org.uk	Public access; appointment essential
Institute of Contemporary History	Antisemitism, Fascism, German History, German Re-unification, Jewish History Modern, Middle East, Nazism, World Wars 1 & 2, Zionism	4 Devonshire Street, London, W1W 5BH Tel: 020 7636 7247 Email: info@wienerlibrary.co.uk	Public access
Institute of Psychiatry Library	Outside readers are normally only admitted to the library as a last resort as access to the Institute of Psychiatry building is restricted. Inquirers are generally advised to use the Mental Health Care and National Electronic Library for Mental Health web sites. The institute library provides a rapid inter-library lending/document supply service to other libraries through the PSYCHIATRIC LIBRARIES CO-OPERATIVE SCHEME and other interlending services.	P018, Kings College London, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF Tel: 020 7848 0204 Email: spyllib@iop.kcl.ac.uk	LLiL form; appointment essential, should only be used as library of last resort
Institute of Psychoanalysis, Library	Access for the general public is for reference-only. We hold most psychoanalytic works ever published in English, a substantial foreign language collection, and onsite access to the full-text psychoanalytic database- PEPWeb. We welcome queries from clinical practitioners, post-graduate academics and specialist researchers. Annual and Institutional membership is available.	112A Shirland Road, London W9 2EQ Tel: 020 7563 5008 Email: library@iopa.org.uk	Public access
James Clavell Library	Formerly the Royal Artillery Institution Library. Coverage includes materials on Royal Regiment of Artillery Regimental History especially First World War and Second World War; British Artillery equipments; General military history; Tactics; Training	Royal Arsenal (West), Warren lane, Woolwich SE18 6ST Tel: 0208-312-7125 Email: research@firepower.org.uk	Public access; appointment essential
King's Fund	London health care, health inequalities, NHS management, community care, patient/public involvement, urban health and many other subjects, especially focusing on vulnerable service users. NB Kings Fund DO NOT hold clinical or medical material	11-13 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0AN Tel: 020 7307 2568 / 2569 Email: library@kingsfund.org.uk	Public access
Library of the London Mennonite Centre	Extensive holdings in the areas of Anabaptism and Mennonite history and theology form the core of the collection. These include source materials on the Radical Reformation, including writings of leaders such as Hans Denck, Conrad Grebel, Balthasar Hubmaier, Pilgram Marpeck, Thomas Muntzer, Michael Sattler and Menno Simons; complete sets of The Mennonite Quarterly Review (1927 to present)and The Conrad Grebel Review (1983 to present; contemporary works on Mennonite life and thought also a selection of writings on the Amish and Hutterites.	14 Shepherds Hill, Highgate, London N6 5AQ Tel: 0845 4500 214 Email:	Public access; appointment essential
Lloyd's Register	Shipping, history of shipping, shipping companies, shipbuilding, development of shipping and specific ship types, naval architecture, shipwrecks, complete collection of Lloyd?s Register of Ships.	71 Fenchurch Street, London EC3M 4BS Tel: 020 7423 2531 Email: histinfo@lr.org	Public access; appointment essential
London Library	The London Library is the largest independent subscription library in the world. The vast majority of its million-strong holdings of books and periodical volumes are available for loan. Membership is open to all.	14 St James's Square London SW1Y 4LG Tel: (020) 7930 7705 Email:	Membership library
London Voluntary Service Council	The library holds a collection of over 5000 books, reports and online materials plus a wide selection of voluntary sector journals. There is an online library catalogue to help users identify and locate the materials they need. We also give access to "FunderFinder" - a database designed to help groups find appropriate sources of funding Please note this is by appointment only.	Resource Centre 356 Holloway Road London N7 6PA Tel: 020-7700-8104 Email: library@lvsc.org.uk	Public access
Natural History Museum Library & Information Servi	Specializing in natural history, the collections are of international importance with extensive holdings of early works, periodicals and current literature; including over 800,000 books, 20,000 periodical titles and the third largest collection of original watercolour drawings in the UK, as well as maps, manuscripts and the archives of The Natural History Museum. The libraries are open, by appointment, to bona-fide researchers. Visitors are asked to write, telephone or email in advance to the appropriate subject library. Each visitor is issued with a reader's ticket, valid for two years - proof of identity is required.	Cromwell Road, South Kensington SW7 5BD Tel: 020 7942 5460 Email: Genlib@nhm.ac.uk	LLiL form; appointment essential
Paul Hamlyn Library	African art and culture, Archaeology, Egypt: Ancient, History: Ancient, Mesopotamia, Museum Studies	British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG Tel: 020 7323 8907 Email: librariesandarchives@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk	Public access
Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art	The Paul Mellon Centre is an educational charity established to promote and support the study of British history of art and architecture. Situated in Bloomsbury, central London, it serves as a research centre for scholars, housing a reference library and photographic archive. The library covers British painting, sculpture, drawing and architecture from the sixteenth to the mid-twentieth century. An appointment is absolutely essential to access this library.	16 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3JA Tel: 0207 580 0311 Email: library@paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk	LLiL form; appointment essential
Poetry Library	The Poetry Library is Britain's most comprehensive collection of modern and contemporary poetry and has a reference and lending service. The library currently closed to personal visitors during the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall and its printed collections temporarily unavailable but a telephone and email enquiry service will continue. Opening hours for enquiries are Monday - Friday 10am-6pm. The website also provides FAQs	5th Floor Royal Festival Hall Belvedere Road London SE1 8XX Tel: 020 7921 0943 Email: http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk/queries/askalibrarian/
RAF Museum, Dept. of Research & Information Servic	The history of the Royal Air Force, and aviation in general. The Library collection includes the RAF?s Air Publication series of manuals, whilst the Archives hold the papers of a number of senior officers and records from a range of firms in the aircraft industry.	Grahame Park Way, Hendon NW9 5LL Tel: 020-8358-4873 Email: research@rafmuseum.org	Public access; appointment essential
Royal Academy of Dance	The Philip Richardson Library (Royal Academy of Dance) is free to members but will allow access under LLiL if appointment is made via the referring public library. It is a ballet and dance specialist library but needs to restrict access as it has only 16 study spaces. Printed material ncludes books, journals, notation scores, photographs and programmes.	36 Battersea Square, Wandsworth London SW11 3RA Tel: 020 7326 8010 Email: library@rad.org.uk	LLiL form; appointment essential, should only be used as library of last resort
Royal Artillery Institution Library	See James Clavell Library	. . Tel: . Email: .
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Library & Archives	The Library has one of the largest collections in the world relating to botany with over 150,000 monographs, 4000 serials (of which 1500 are currently received), 200,000 prints and drawings.We are a library of last resort in that research visitors are expected to have already tried other available facilities especially the British Library.	Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AE Tel: 020 8332 5414 Email: library@kew.org	LLiL form; should only be used as library of last resort
Royal College of Midwives Library	Midwifery and maternity services. Library holds Midwives Journal and its predecessors from late 19th century, also old midwifery textbooks providing evidence of contemporary practice, and a collection of midwifery dissertations submitted to UK universities. A specialist midwifery library. Book and report stock approx. 7200; 50 journals. Provides access to National electronic Library for Health national core content databases and journals, also MIDIRS Enquiry Service (bibliographic database) on a walk-in basis. Limited disabled access.	15 Mansfield Street, London W1G 9NH Tel: 020 7291 9220 Email: library@rcm.org.uk	Public access
Royal Horticultural Society	Over 50,000 books ranging in date from 1514 to the present, large range of journals, trade catalogues and collection of botanical drawings	Lindley Library, London Royal Horticultural Society 80 Vincent Square London SW1P 2PE Tel: 0207 834 4333 Email: brente@rhs.org.uk	Public access; telephone call from referring library required
Royal National Institute of the Blind Library	Europe?s largest collection of research material on sight loss, blindness and partial sight	105 Judd Street, London WC1H 9NE Tel: 020 7391 2052 Email: libraryinfo@rnib.org.uk	Public access
Royal Society of Chemistry Library	Unique information source covering all aspects of contemporary and historical chemistry. Very much a specialist library includes a searchable collection on historical chemistry which grew out of the original holdings of donations to the Library of the chemical Society. A good source of genealogical information as their membership records go back over 160 years.	Royal Society of Chemistry Burlington House Piccadilly London W1J 0BA Tel: 020 7437 8656 (switchboard) Email: library@rsc.org	LLiL form
Royal United Services Institute	Army lists, Military History, Regimental History. NB RUSI DO NOT hold service records (held at the National Archives)	Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET Tel: 020 7930 5854 Email: library@rusi.org	Public access; telephone call from referring library required
Society of Genealogists	Foremost family history library in the UK. Subject coverage includes genealogy, family history, topography, history (general, local, economic, social), biography, demography, heraldry etc. Coverage is primarily the British Isles but there is something on most countries worldwide & especially former parts of the British Empire & the Commonwealth. LLiL form allows a maximum of two hours free use of library. After that charges are as follows: £4 for one hour £10 for up to 4 hours and £18 per day	14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7BA Tel: 020-7251 8799 Email: librarian@sog.org.uk	LLiL form allows one free visit, thereafter charges apply
St Bride Printing Library	Formerly part of the Corporation of London libraries, St. Bride Printing Library is a now an independent reference library open to all. Collections focus on printing, publishing, typography, and all the related book trades. The service is free and there are no membership requirements.	Bride Lane London EC4Y 8EE Tel: 020 7353 4660 Email:	Public access
US Educational Advisory Service Reference Library	The Educational Advisory Service (EAS) Reference Library contains undergraduate and postgraduate programme directories, application process guides, funding directories and US university catalogues.All materials are for reference use and may not be taken out. Photocopying facilities are available for a small fee. The library is open to the public during the EAS regular opening hours and is free to use. Advisers are available to guide you to appropriate resources and answer any of your questions.	Fulbright House, 62 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2JZ Tel: 0207 404 6994 Email: education@fulbright.co.uk	Public access
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library	The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) is internationally recognised as England's national library and archive focusing on the traditional and revived forms of music, dance, song and custom found in England and its related cultures. It is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS); a unique multi-media collection which is the principal source of information for all people interested in researching and performing the various elements of folk culture, regardless of their level of interest and involvement.	English Folk Dance and Song Society, Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent?s Park Road, London NW1 7AY Tel: 020-7485 2206 Email: library@efdss.org	LLiL form
Wellcome Library	The Wellcome Library provides insight and information to anyone seeking to understand medicine and its role in society, past and present. The library is a reference library, open to the public free of charge. One form of identification is required on first visit. The collection includes over 600,000 printed volumes, 600 collections of papers and 100,000 images.	183 Euston Road London NW1 2BE Tel: 020 7611 8582 Email: -	Public access
Women's Library	The Library was established in 1926 and documents all aspects of women?s lives. The collections include material on women?s rights, suffrage, sexuality, health, education, employment, reproductive rights, the family and the home. The stock includes 60,000 printed books and pamphlets; 2,500 periodical titles; ephemera; press cuttings; over 400 archive collections; oral histories; visual materials including postcards, banners, badges, photographs and posters.	London Metropolitan University, Old Castle Street, London E1 7NT Tel: 020 7320 2222 Email: enquirydesk@thewomenslibrary.ac.uk	Public access