Coronavirus and Library services

We are available 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday to support you.

Contact us by: 

• Email
• Library Chat (IM)
• Twitter
• Facebook

Basic queries at the service desk

Library staff are available Monday to Friday, 11am to 3pm at the service desk to answer basic enquiries.

Meet with a librarian

A librarian can also meet you in-person to discuss searching for literature and referencing for assignments, dissertations and exams.

Book an in-person appointment with a librarian

If you need help using the Library and its resources, you should contact your department librarian first. They can provide support remotely. They can assist you with:

• finding the resources on your reading list
• finding resources for your assignments
• finding data and other specialist information.
• citing and referencing enquiries

Contact a librarian to discuss.

• You can also contact specialists on publishing, data management and research impact. Explore our research support guides.

Our building is open 24/7 for LSE staff and students for the purpose of research and study. You do not need to book a space to enter.

The busiest time is between 3pm and 6pm.

If you want to avoid queueing to enter, we suggest visiting outside of these hours. 

COVID testing

Staff and students should get tested twice a week while working or studying on campus, in line with government guidance.

Book a COVID-19 test

Library services and environment

• single use, socially distanced study spaces on all floors
• computer workstations and printers
• physical collections and borrowing available
• group study spaces are not available
• food is not allowed
• masks to be worn at all times

While you are in the Library

• wear a face covering at all times
• maintain social distancing
• follow all current LSE guidance around visiting campus.

If you come across any issues while in the Library, contact us. 

LSE staff and students can borrow our open access print collections if they need to. 

• Use the self-service machines to borrow books.
• Chat to us if you have any problems with borrowing.
• You can also email us for assistance.

Return books by leaving them on the trolleys in the Escape area before the turnstiles.

Items will be quarantined for 72 hours and then discharged from your account.

Contact us with any issues or concerns.

We have been able to secure additional resources to help you with your online learning, research and teaching. 

New and improved resources for LSE staff and students

• JSTOR - enhanced access to all JSTOR Archive and Primary Source collections covering all areas of social sciences and humanities.
• Coronavirus Research Database.
• S&P Capital IQ - financial data, analytics, and research.
• Elsevier - Novel Coronavirus Information Center.

Access a range of resources wherever you are in the world; including JSTOR, Project Muse, Sage Journals.

Find out about online resources for LSE Alumni

Free/Open Access resources 

• CORE - The world’s largest collection of open access research papers 
• Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) 
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) 
• JSTOR Open Access ebooks 

COVID-19 research available to all

• JSTOR - 26 journal archives in Public Health
• Oxford University Press
• Royal Society
• Taylor and Francis
• Wiley Online Library 
• Brill
• Cochrane Library
• Digital Science
• Emerald
• Microbiology Society
• MIT Press - Pandemics and Epidemiology
• Sage Journals
• Springer Nature

Due to the current situation with coronavirus, our archives and special collections can't be accessed. Get in touch for advice.

In the meantime, you can still access our digitised collections, or explore our collection highlights to find out more about our archives and special collections.

Our team of curators can help you according to their area of expertise.

You can also send us any general enquiries, and we'll do our best to help. 

Online exhibitions and collections

• Take a look at our Google Arts and Culture online exhibits. Including stories of the women's suffrage movement, and LGBTQ+ activism.
• Explore our digitised archives on the legacy digital library and our new digital library. 
• Browse collections and freely download images from our Unsplash and Flickr pages.
• Explore Charles Booth’s London: Poverty Maps and Police Notebooks.

If you can't access something that you need, let us know.

The Get It For Me service is for when you want articles, chapters or ebooks that are not available in our collection.

Find out how to use the Get It For Me service

We aren't able to order print titles at the moment, but if what you want is available electronically then we should be able to get you access.

We are aware that in the current circumstances some researchers aren't able to access some of the secure datasets they need for their research (eg ONS data). The Library, Research and Innovation and Cyber Security are working together to identify the researchers affected and investigate potential solutions. 

If you are facing issues for your research projects, please get in touch via datalibrary@lse.ac.uk in the first instance. We can then work with you and data providers to provide support. 

 As students and researchers are no longer able to conduct face-to-face data collection, new guidance has been produced to provide advice and tips for doing online data collection.

Please see our guides for:

• undergraduate and master's students

• postgraduate research students and researchers

Follow these instructions for using Bloomberg remotely. 

Any problems? Contact the Data Library team.