The National Police Library in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

is classed as a special library and

research library A research library is a library which contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects.(Young, 1983; p. 188) A research library will generally include an in-depth selection of materials on a particular topic or set of to ...

. It is part of the

College of Policing The College of Policing is a professional body for the police in England and Wales. It was established in 2012 to take over a number of training and development roles that were the responsibility of the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA ...

, funded by the Home Office. It is only accessible to current serving

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

and police staff in the United Kingdom and is Europe's largest policing library. Services include access to online resources,

electronic books An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alth ...

and periodicals; postal book loans; reference enquiries and document delivery service and advanced search skills training. The printed collections at the library contain over 60,000 books, journals (printed and online), theses, pamphlets, reports collected from government and police forces, and unpublished

grey literature Grey literature (or gray literature) is materials and research produced by organizations outside of the traditional commercial or academic publishing and distribution channels. Common grey literature publication types include reports ( annual, r ...

. The collection also holds every issue of the ''

Police Review ''Police Review'' (also known as ''Jane's Police Review'') was a weekly magazine for police officers in the United Kingdom, latterly published by Jane's Information Group Jane's Information Group, now styled Janes, is a global open-source in ...

'' since 1893 and the ''Police Gazette'' since the late 18th century. Subject coverage includes police and policing, crime and crime prevention, criminology, criminal justice, forensic science, leadership, general management, training, educational theory, social science and psychology.

History

The library was established as part of the National Police College in

Ryton-on-Dunsmore Ryton-on-Dunsmore is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Rugby, Warwickshire, situated 5.5 miles (8.8 km) southeast of Coventry and 7.5 miles (12.1 km) west of Rugby, England. The 2001 Census recorded a population of 1,672 in the paris ...

in June 1948, originally created to serve senior ranks. This followed the recommendation in the Dixon Report (1930): "the object of which should be to develop so far as possible each officer’s capacity for individual application to the problems of his profession and his fitness for higher responsibility." In 1945, ''The Police Journal: A Review for the Police Forces of the Empire'' also suggested the need for a National Police Library. The library was renamed Police Staff College Library and relocated to the

Police Staff College, Bramshill The Police Staff College, Bramshill, Bramshill House, Bramshill, (near Hook) Hampshire, England, was until 2015 the principal police staff training establishment in England and Wales. History The need for a training college for the police w ...

in 1960. The library was situated in the Long Gallery on the first floor of

Bramshill House Bramshill House, in Bramshill, northeast Hampshire, England, is one of the largest and most important Jacobean prodigy house mansions in England. It was built in the early 17th century by the 11th Baron Zouche of Harringworth but was partly ...

. In 1998, the library was renamed National Police Library to reflect the change in outlook; widening access to services to police officers and police staff across all forces across the UK. The library later become part of the

National Policing Improvement Agency The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, established to support police by providing expertise in such areas as information technology, information sharing, and recruitment. It was ...

and in 2013, it transferred to the newly established College of Policing. Following the sale of the Bramshill House in 2014, the National Police Library temporarily relocated to the College's

Sunningdale Park Sunningdale Park is a country estate centred around a property known as Northcote House in Sunningdale, Berkshire. History The house is thought to have been built by James Wyatt, almost certainly for James William Steuart, a farmer, in around ...

site in March 2015. The library moved permanently to the College of Policing's headquarters in Ryton-On-Dunsmore in February 2017.

References

External links

National Police Library

National Police Library - Twitter account
{{Authority control Libraries in Warwickshire Special collections libraries in England Libraries established in 1948 1948 establishments in the United Kingdom Research libraries in the United Kingdom