The IALS global law library 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. Our extensive collections cover over 200 separate jurisdictions, with particular strengths in public international law, comparative law, Commonwealth jurisdictions, European Union and Western European jurisdictions and the USA.
Find out more about our collections and where to find them on our Resources and Collections guides.
Signs on all floors, by the lifts and by the enquiry desk will let you know what collections are held on each floor, and all the shelves have labels letting you know the range of books. Shelf locations starting with a 'G' relate to jurisdictional collections, while those starting with an 'S' relate to subject collections. On the way into the library there are a range of guides to different areas of law, detailing our major holdings in that area with full item locations, which you may take. These guides are all replicated on the website, along with some guides to our jurisdictional collections. If you are still having trouble locating items, just speak to a member of staff!
View our guide to classmarks and the location of resources in the library for further guidance.
For many years, IALS library has been at the forefront of training and development, both of future law librarians and future lawyers! Every Autumn term, we run a comprehensive training programme open to all new students covering everything from basic orientation with UK legal resources, skills for finding legal materials online, database analysis, and many tailored subject and jurisdiction specific training. Our friendly and capable reference team can also arrange one to one sessions to discuss legal research methodology specific to your own research interests. Additionally, support is offered various technical aspects, from correctly formatting documents to checking citations.
More information about IALS library training can be found on our Training guide, or you can speak to a member of the reference team for more information. You can find us at the Enquiry Desk on the 2nd floor of the library, or you can contact us via one of the following methods:
Email: ials@sas.ac.uk
Live Chat: via the IALS library website (Click on the ‘Chat with a Librarian’ button on the right hand side)
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7862 5790
