The Senate House Libraries (formerly The University of London Research Library Services) is a group of libraries based in Bloomsbury which together comprise an extensive research collection across the humanities and social sciences. Part of the University of London they are heavily used by the institution's colleges, institutes and schools for academic purposes, as well as open to external researchers and the public.
SHL is a division of the central University of London, headquartered at Senate House on Russell Square and was formed by bringing together the former University of London Library (now Senate House Library) and the libraries of the various institutes comprising the School of Advanced Study. The previous umbrella name, University of London Research Library Services (ULRLS) was replaced by Senate House Libraries on 1 April 2011 in a rebranding exercise.
The following eight libraries currently make up the service:
The combined holdings of the libraries amount to almost 3 million volumes, including many thousands of journals, and numerous deep and rich collections of research materials in subjects across the disciplines.