A GUIDE TO HISTORY LIBRARIES AND
COLLECTIONS IN LONDON

INSTITUTE OF COMMONWEALTH STUDIES LIBRARY

NAME AND ADDRESS

Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library, 28 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DS.

Note: The library will be moving to Senate House in late 2009.

LOCATION

Ground Floor

TELEPHONE NUMBER

+44 (020) 7862 8842

FAX

+44 (020) 7862 8820

EMAIL ADDRESS

icommlib@sas.ac.uk

WEB SITE

http://commonwealth.sas.ac.uk

HOURS OF OPENING

Please check the web site for up to date information.

ACCESS

By student card or other identification. Membership is free to academic staff, academic-related staff and postgraduate students from any university. Undergraduates may use the library free of charge as occasional readers for materials not available in their home library. Others, not affiliated to a HE institution, pay a fee of £5.00 per day or £15.00 per week, with reductions.

For full details of admission check here

READER PLACES

25

INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGER

David Clover

DEPUTY INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGER

Julie McCaffery

STAFF AVAILABILITY

At all times when the library is open.

CATALOGUES

All book and periodical holdings are now included in the on-line catalogue of the University of London Research Library Services at http://catalogue.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/

The on-line archives catalogue is available at http://archives.ulrls.lon.ac.uk. The catalogues of this library and of all the libraries in the University of London Research Library Services can be found at http://catalogue.ulrls.lon.ac.uk.

CLASSIFICATION

Modified Library of Congress

COLLECTIONS

The library holds material on the contemporary history (social, economic, political) of all Commonwealth countries and former members as well as former colonies.  The stock (over 180,000 volumes) includes monographs, government publications, academic discussion papers, statistical and census data, and more than 9,000 periodical and annual publications.  Over 70% of the stock is published in Commonwealth countries.

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS OR STRENGTH

1. Caribbean, West Indies, including the West India Committee Library
2. Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific area, Canada
3. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
4. African member countries
5. Over 9,000 periodical and annual publications
6. Collection of more than 10,000 documents issued by political parties, pressure groups and trade unions in Commonwealth member countries
7. Over 70% of the stock comes from Commonwealth countries
8. A number of important archive collections including the papers of Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, Sir Ivor Jennings, Ruth First, Richard Jebb, and the West India Committee. Guides to archival materials are available.

REGISTER OF RESEARCH

An annual printed list of theses in progress may be purchased from the library.

ADDITIONAL FACILITIES

Computers with access to the Internet, collection of CD-ROMs, self-service photocopiers, microform readers.

PUBLICATIONS

Theses in progress on Commonwealth Studies (annual).

A web-based guide to the Library’s collection of political ephemera is available at http://www.sas.ac.uk/polarch.

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