| British Library of Political and Economic Science | |
|---|---|
| The roof of the British Library of Political and Economic Science | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Type | Academic library |
| Established | 1896 |
| Location | Portugal Street, London WC2 |
| Branches | None |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | books, journals, newspapers, maps, official publications, pamphlets, microforms |
| Size | 1.3M books, 33,600 journal titles[1] |
| Legal deposit | No |
| Access and use | |
| Circulation | 2.7M[1] |
| Members | 41,205[1] |
| Other information | |
| Budget | £7.1M[1] |
| Director | Elizabeth Chapman |
| Staff | 96.6 FTE[1] |
| Website | http://www.lse.ac.uk/library |
The British Library of Political and Economic Science is the main library of the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the world's largest political and social sciences library .
The library is located on Portugal Street, just north of the main buildings of the school. The current building is the former headquarters and warehouse facilities of WH Smith, opened in 1916 and taken over by LSE in 1976, to be reopened as a library in 1978.
Since its foundation in 1896, it has been the national social sciences library of the United Kingdom and all its collections have been recognised for their outstanding national and international importance and awarded 'Designation' status by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). 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.
The Library collects material on a worldwide basis, in all major European languages. The extensive collections range from a European Documentation Centre to 90,000 historical pamphlets, with over 95% of Library stock available on open access. Over 50 km of shelving, enough to stretch the length of the Channel Tunnel, 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, just part of its electronic information provision.
Unusually for an academic library, all materials are housed in a single site, the Lionel Robbins Building, named after the prestigious economist who studied, taught and later served as Chair of the Court of Governors of LSE.
The library underwent a £35 million building redevelopment in 2000, overseen by Foster and Partners. The building was officially reopened on 27 November 2001 by HRH The Princess Royal and was commended in the 2002 Civic Trust Awards - 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. The fourth and fifth floors are home to the LSE Research Lab, an internationally funded resource, bringing together scientists from across the world with the School’s leading research centres.
The Library is also home to a number of national and regional initiatives. Since 1946 the Library has been a United Nations depository library, providing a comprehensive collection of UN publications and documents. Many other organisations are also significantly represented, including OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), ILO (International Labour Organization), OAS (Organization of American States) and GATT/WTO (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade / World Trade Organization). As a European Documentation Centre, the Library has received publications from the European Community since 1964.
In autumn 2009 a new social space for students, named Escape, was opened in the Library entrance area. This facility is aimed at encouraging students to take a break when they need to, as well as preserving the main library space as a quiet and studious environment.
In October 2009 the School unveiled Bluerain, an artwork on the exterior of the Lionel Robbins Building. Designed by San Francisco artist, Michael Brown it is a thirty-foot structure containing 23,520 blue LEDs, which scrolls text relating to live research taking place inside the library, including recent catalogue searches and the titles of books being checked out.
It has faced criticism from users over its poor acoustics and uncomfortable staircase.[2]