Fine Art and History of Art

Did you know you can use the spaces and collections at any of UCL's many libraries? The libraries you might need to use include:

• Science Library, Malet Place: the main space for Engineering collections, also includes Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, Geography, Anthropology and Management.
• Main Library, Wilkins Building: Includes Economics, Public Policy, Crime Science (in the Law section).
• Bartlett Library, Upper Woburn Place: Architecture and Town Planning, so can be useful for construction and Civil Engineering.
• Institute of Education, Bedford Way: in addition to Education they have a strong multidisciplinary 
• Cruciform Library in the Cruciform Hub, Gower St: Clinical Medicine, useful for Biomedical or Biochemical Engineering and Medical Physics. There are other medical and health libraries you may want to use too, including the Queen Square Library for Neurology and the Language and Speech Science Library.

When you check a book's location on UCL Explore, it will tell you which library it is located at. Most of UCL's libraries are located in the Bloomsbury Campus.
See more details about UCL's libraries and their opening hours on the Library Services webpages. 

To locate material not held by UCL you can use the Library Hub Discover site: an online catalogue with records of the holdings the top research libraries in the country.

• Senate House Library has strong collections the arts and social and historical sciences. Any registered member of UCL can join the library and borrow from there. You can pre-register online.
• The British Library has strong collections in the arts and humanities. UCL staff and students can apply directly for reference access.
• The National Art Library is located in the Victoria & Albert Museum holds the UK's most comprehensive public reference collection of literature on the fine and decorative arts, including books, journals, exhibition catalogues, auction house sales catalogues, comics, e-resources and much more.
• The Tate Library & Archive is located at Tate Britain and is a centre of excellence for art historical research, covering British art since 1500 and international art since 1900. As well as a wide selection of books, printed journals and electronic resources about art and artists, the library has a pre-eminent collection of exhibition catalogues dating from the late 19th century to recent contemporary shows. Tate Library also has a collection of 6500 artists’ books which date from the 1960s to the present day.
• The Stuart Hall Library at iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts) is a specialist research collection on international contemporary visual art and culture. The library provides the opportunity to study art from Indigenous, African, Caribbean, Asian, Latin American, Middle Eastern and UK artists of diverse cultural backgrounds. It is a reference only collection of 10,000 publications such as artist books, artist monographs, exhibition catalogues, zines as well as archival material.
• The National Poetry Library, located on the South Bank on the 5th floor of the Royal Festival Hall, houses the world’s largest public collection of modern poetry. Free to join. 

Find out more about using other libraries, and links to other library catalogues.

The reading list of Fine Art, History of Art, Film, Small Press: online research resources is a list of freely available websites which will be useful for research in Fine Art and Art History. 

Some useful open access resources include: