IALS library has a WiFi network in operation throughout the building, allowing readers to connect to our network from their personal laptops. In order to do this, you will need to have your full plastic library card - you will not be able to access the WiFi with a provisional or temporary library card.
Once you have your full ticket, please follow the instructions on our WiFi guide.
You will need your full library card in order to borrow books. In most cases, you will be able to borrow 4 books from the main collection for overnight loans, renewable remotely up to 3 times. Whilst it might seem as though our borrowing rights are restrictive, it is worth noting that as the national research collection, many of our books are unique. If the book you need is out on loan, you shouldn't have to wait more than a day or so for it to be back in the library. Additionally, you may borrow up to 3 items for the short loan collection which will be due back by 10:00 the next morning (or 11:00 on a Saturday). These books cannot be renewed online.
Fines will be levied on books returned late to encourage their prompt return. The fines are £1 per item per day for main collection books, and 50p per hour (or part of hour) for short loan materials. All money received in fines is put towards our acquisitions fund.
Full information about borrowing can be found on the Borrowing, Renewing and Returning section of our website.
IALS Library has a number of electronic databases, which cover a variety of materials, jurisdictions and topics. All of the databases are available onsite to our academic members through the Law Databases page which contains an A-Z list of all our databases. We do also offer offsite access to some of the databases, but whether you will have access to each database varies depending on our licences and the category of your library membership. Please see the Law Databases page for full information about onsite and offsite access, as well as further information regarding the scope and content of each resource. Our reference team are trained in the use of all of these resources and will be happy to assist new users in familiarising themselves with them.
You will need to register online for an IALS PaperCut account and have money in it before you can print, copy or scan. Full information on how to do this can be found on our Printing, Copying and Scanning guide.
Printing and copying are 5p per page, and scanning is 4p. There are further charges for colour and outsized copying. You can add credit to your account online or at the library desk. Please refer to the printing guide for further details.