Lancaster University library foyer with the living tree in the centre.

Lancaster University Library

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A Library at the heart of Lancaster University's community, local and global. We connect, we innovate, we include.

Welcome to the library

The Library sits at the heart of the Lancaster University. The library building is located at the centre of the Bailrigg campus, providing a welcoming, open and inclusive place for library and university activity. Integrating our in-person provision with a strong digital presence extends the library's reach well beyond campus, so our resources, facilities and support are available wherever you are.

Our approach is based on a library vision Towards 2025, that expresses our firm commitment to be innovative and inclusive in all we do, and a desire to connect with and bring people together.

The library towards 2025

The library vision describes our ambitions for the five year period up to academic year 2025-26. It outlines our approach and commitments to providing a library that fully integrates digital and physical provision, connecting and partnering with our communities, taking innovative and sustainable approaches, and underpinning all we do by seeking to be inclusive and celebrating diversity.

The Library Towards 2025
Side profile of the Library, with the lights shining out from the windows.

Achievements and awards

NSS 91%

We were rated the top university library of its kind by students in the 2022 National Student Survey.

The Library was invited to join Research Libraries UK in 2022. RLUK is a consortium of the most significant research libraries in the UK and Ireland.

Our Learning Development team were awarded the prestigious Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence in 2022.

We received the Outstanding Library Team award in the Times Higher Education awards in 2022.

News

Pride Month 2023 with rainbow background of pastel colours.

Celebrating Pride 2023 at the Library

During June, we celebrated Pride month with a combination of events, exhibitions, and resources we put together and shared.
Staff and students at a celebration event

Students as partners Library celebration event

At the heart of the library’s vision ‘The Library Towards 2025’ is our ambition to be a library that is connected, that goes beyond providing just a service and a building and to work in partnership with all our Lancaster University communities, which includes providing students with opportunities to work with the library and have a central role in its development. 
​​Engineering Case Studies Cover. Archive photograph, likely 1960s of three male engineers wearing suits inspecting technical equipment

Engineering Case Studies Trial

The Engineering Case Studies trial is a collection of case studies and reports of engineering failures. Including studies from Air France 4590, Chernobyl and Deepwater Horizon.
Collage of images including Nelson Mandela, a person in scrubs holding a baby and a crowd of people seated around a table.

New 'Commons' Resources From the Library

The library has subscribed to two new 'Commons' resources. Africa and Policy Commons. These are a newer type of resource, that benefits both researchers and decolonisation efforts across the University by surfacing lost or difficult to find Primary Source resources, much of which is located in the Global South. This also means we have had a significant increase in the amount of interesting Policy Documents, Photographs, Zines, Films and Documentaries.
Complete Anatomy, image of human face.

Complete Anatomy. Now Available on University PCs, iPads and Android Devices

Complete Anatomy is the world's leading 3D anatomy platform, with ground-breaking technology, models and content.
Image of a book spine.

£5.8 million project to deliver a more sustainable future for Open Access books

A new project that works to increase access to valuable research is to receive more than £5.8 million in funding.

More News

Explore the library

  • What's on

    We have a rich programme of activities, both on campus and online. Explore our programme of workshops, exhibitions and other events.

  • Visit

    Discover the library building and find all you need to plan your visit, including details of community card membership.

  • Collections

    Explore our extensive print and online collections, including primary source materials, Special Collections and Archives, and Lancaster Digital Collections.

  • Learn

    Find out how our Faculty Librarian and Learning Development teams support learning, including partnering with students, working with schools and independent online learning.

  • Research

    Find out how we support the University commitment to open research by partnering with researchers and supporting research activity.

  • Connect

    Connect with us via social media and find out more about our partnership activities.

What's on in the Library July 2023

Free pizza focus group and free cookies individual activity – Library research events!

We are looking for volunteers to participate in our Library research activities in the month of July – find out more and sign up via our events calendar. Spaces are limited, so be quick to book!

Resource Lists @ Lancaster University - Staff Workshop - Library Training Room 1 C135

Staff Drop-in - The session covers the following: This is an informal drop-in for staff seeking assistance with reviewing their existing module Resource Lists.

Thursday, July 20, 2023, 1:00pm - 2:00pm

Systematic Review Conversations - Rapid Reviews for PolicyMakers

A number of barriers have been identified to getting evidence into policy. In particular, a lack of policy relevance and lack of timeliness have been identified as causing tension between researchers and policy makers. Rapid reviews are used increasingly as an approach to address timeliness, however, there is a lack of consensus on the most effective review methods and they do not necessarily address the need of policy makers. This presentation will discuss an approach we developed in our work with the Scottish Government’s Review of maternity and neonatal services to produce collaborative, targeted and efficient evidence reviews. Key to this was agreeing a framework to structure the analysis and close collaboration between policy makers, healthcare professionals and service users.

Thursday, July 27, 1:00pm - 2:00pm

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