Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library

The IALS law library, located in Russell Square, is one of the most important law libraries in Europe, essentially forming the national legal research collection, and funded directly by the government for the benefit of the nation. It includes an extensive collection covering over 200 separate jurisdictions, with particular strengths in public international law, comparative law, Commonwealth jurisdictions, the EU and US, and western European jurisdictions.

Current academic staff and postgraduate research students (PhD, MPhil, MRes) from any university can join the IALS library for free, see this link for further information about joining the library.

The library is mostly a reference collection but it does offer books for loan: you can search the library catalogue to find resources. It also has guides for finding books and e-books, cases, journal articles, law theses and more: https://libguides.ials.sas.ac.uk/guides/resources.

The library has a large range of law databases, some of which are available remotely, including databases which are not available at CityLibrary. It has also produced useful guides on international law (including private and public international law), on different jurisdictions, and on a variety of subjects (including air and space law, human rights, and criminal law).

Throughout the year specialist librarians at IALS offer research skills training on legal databases, OSCOLA, and writing law dissertations, and it is also possible to book a one-to-one advice appointment with a librarian.

Of particular interest to PhD students, IALS offers a training course on ‘how to get a PhD in law’ which includes sessions on the PhD journey, the PhD in law and research methods, and researching, disseminating and publishing in the digital world.

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