The British Library of Political and Economic Science, commonly referred to as "LSE Library", is the main library of the

London School of Economics and Political Science , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

(LSE). It is one of the largest libraries in the world devoted to the economic and social sciences. The Library responds to around 6,500 visits from students and staff each day. In addition, it provides a specialist international research collection, serving over 12,000 registered external users each year. It is housed in the

Lionel Robbins Lionel Charles Robbins, Baron Robbins, (22 November 1898 – 15 May 1984) was a British economist, and prominent member of the economics department at the London School of Economics (LSE). He is known for his leadership at LSE, his proposed def ...

Building.

Location

The library is located on the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

(LSE) Campus, near Portugal Street. The current building is the former headquarters and warehouse facilities of

WH Smith WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and m ...

, opened in 1916 and taken over by LSE in 1976, to be reopened as a library in 1978.

History

The Library was founded in 1896, one year after the

LSE LSE may refer to: Computing * LSE (programming language), a computer programming language * LSE, Latent sector error, a media assessment measure related to the hard disk drive storage technology * Language-Sensitive Editor, a text editor used on ...

. It was founded in order to "provide, for the serious student of administrative and constitutional problems, what has hitherto been lacking in this country, namely a collection of the materials for economic and political research". A history of its development and collections is available on its institutional repository
LSE Research Online
HM Queen Mother at the formal opening of the new library in the Lionel Robbins Building, 10th July 1979 (2)

HM Queen Mother at the formal opening of the new library in the Lionel Robbins Building, 10th July 1979 (2)

Collections

Since its foundation the library has been the national

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

library of the United Kingdom, and collects material on a worldwide basis in all major European languages. Over 50 km of shelving, enough to stretch the length of the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

, houses over four and a half million items including 31,000 past and present journal titles. The Library subscribes to approximately 15,000 e-journals as part of its electronic information provision. It has been designated as a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

depository library, providing a comprehensive collection of UN publications and documents. Many other organisations are also represented, including OECD (

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries ...

), ILO (

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

), OAS (

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...

) and GATT/WTO (

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its pre ...

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...

). It is also a European Documentation Centre and has received publications from the European Community since 1964. Its collections have been recognised for their national and international importance and awarded 'Designation' status by the

Museums, Libraries and Archives Council The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) was until May 2012 a non-departmental public body and registered charity in England with a remit to promote improvement and innovation in the area of museums, libraries and archives. Its function ...

(MLA). The library's archives hold a number of unique collections. These include Charles Booth's poverty maps, which were awarded UNESCO status in 2016 on the

Memory of the World Register Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

. It also holds a number of other archive collections of national or international significance, such a
The Women's LibraryLGBT activismBritish politics and early left wing thought
an
peace campaigning
The Library has a number of open access platforms to make its collections available freely online. These include
digital library
which holds digitised items from its collections
LSE Theses Online
which holds PhDs recently completed or digitised at the LSE, an
LSE Research Online
which holds research outputs by LSE academic staff
LSE Press
was launched in 2018 and publishes peer-reviewed open access research in the social sciences through books and journals (''LSE Public Policy Review'', ''Journal of Illicit Economies and Development'', and ''Journal of Long-Term Care''). Student work is published through th
Houghton Street Press
imprint. The Library holds a free exhibition space which showcases some of its unique collections, with three termly exhibitions each year.

Redevelopment

Lionel Robbins Building - BLPES, 1978 (3832932689)

The library underwent a £35 million building redevelopment in 2000, overseen by

Foster and Partners Foster + Partners is a British architectural, engineering, and integrated design practice founded in 1967 as Foster Associates by Norman Foster. It is the largest architectural firm in the UK with over 1,500 employees in 13 studios worldwide. ...

. The building was officially reopened on 27 November 2001 by

The Princess Royal Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been sev ...

and was commended in the 2002

Civic Trust Awards The Civic Trust Awards scheme was established in 1959 to recognise outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment. As the longest standing built environment awards scheme in Europe, since 1959, more than 7000 projects have ...

, given to outstanding examples of architecture and environmental design in major city areas of the UK, taking into account the benefit each project brings to its local area as well as the quality of its design. A further redevelopment in summer 2007, saw the expansion of the Course Collection by 60%, a new help desk, more study spaces and an increase in self-service facilities. The Lionel Robbins Building covers 20,000 square metres, and offers 1,700 study places, including 450 networked PCs and 226 laptop drop-in points. A light-filled atrium, named after Michael Peacock and spiral stepped ramp culminate at the top in a partially glazed dome which has been precisely angled to maximise daylight with minimal solar glare. A reflecting panel on the roof also helps to direct sunlight to the floors below. The dome and other windows respond automatically according to the temperature in the building; ventilating it naturally.

References

External links