HLSI Library

Access the historic HLSI library, with a collection of over 25,000 books

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The HLSI Library has some 25,000 books available for members to borrow. Our lending collection is constantly updated and covers a wide range of subjects including:

  • contemporary and literary fiction
  • biography
  • crime
  • history
  • and science and technology.

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Historic HLSI Library special collections

Many of our books are not available in other libraries, and the collection is a useful resource for researchers and writers.

Our Coleridge Room holds our special collections on London, Highgate, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and John Betjeman.

Our London Collection covers all aspects of the capital: history, waterways, architecture, transport, guilds, its people and more. Highgate itself is more comprehensively represented, and together with our Archives this collection offers an extremely useful resource for anyone interested in exploring the history of our area.

Both Coleridge and Betjeman lived locally, Betjeman in childhood and Coleridge in the last years of his life. These collections include works by and about both these poets.

Children’s corner

Our children’s corner holds many classics, often enjoyed by parents and grandparents, as well as new titles for the very young, for new and for confident readers, and for young adults.