Senate House Library

Senate House Library's history goes back to the official foundation of the University of London in 1836 but it really began life in 1871 when a bookfund was started. The library holds material relevant chiefly to the arts and social sciences. The library (formerly the University of London Library) is administered by the central university as part the University of London Research Library Services. In 2005 it had over 32,000 registered users. It is the second largest library in London, outside that of the British Library, less than one mile to the north. The library holds over two million volumes, including 120,000 volumes printed before 1851. Along with subscriptions to over 5200 Journals, the library's resources include the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature, the Harry Price Library of Magical Literature and the Palaeography room, the largest public collection of books of this kind in Europe. The library also holds over 170,000 theses by University of London graduate students and has over 1,100 manuscript collections.