Written for the London Psychology Librarians Group and presented at the British Library on 3/12/18

1. Psychology related Research
at the British Library
Paul Allchin, reference specialist, sciences
BS, MSc, MCILIP, PGCAPHE, FHEA

2. www.bl.uk
Our offer:
• BL as UK National Library
• Reader Registration & BL membership
• Relevant reading rooms
• E-Resources: A-Z list online but need to be
onsite using reading room pcs
• http://electronicresources.bl.uk/
• Research & Reference Services
• Science blog & events:
• https://www.bl.uk/subjects/science
2

3. www.bl.uk
BL as UK National Library
• 2nd largest in the world, to the Library of Congress
• USP is our depth and breath of collections
• Now the library of first and last resort
• A digital friendly library: from 2013 ingest digital UK
legal deposit publications
• Web site ingest & archiving of UK web domain
• Diversity of formats from books, journals to
newspapers, sound, video, oral histories etc.
• Collection guides: https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides
3

4. www.bl.uk
Reader Registration
• Quick and easy: just need a research topic
• Via reader registration office & team on LGF
• 18+, 16+ discretionary
• ID required i.e. utility bill with name and
address, can be on-line bank details
• ID: passport, driving license
• Plastic library card with photo issued
according to period needed, up to 3 years
• Roving reference specialist will help to create
an online catalogue account & suggest the
best reading room for research
• Plan ahead, most psychology stock is stored
in Boston Spa, 48hr/2 day delivery
4

5. www.bl.uk
BL membership and members facilities
• Membership distinct from reader registration
• Contact Customer services: Tel: 01937 546 060
• Email: members@bl.uk
• Cost: £80 on annual direct debit
• Offers use of bar/coffee lounge, study room and
Knowledge Centre bar.
• Includes shop & events discounts
• Members still need to register as readers to use
the reading rooms
• The public restaurant & cafeteria on the UGF &
1st floor are open for readers and members alike
5

6. www.bl.uk
Psychology: getting to know your reading rooms
Science reading rooms: for clinical
psychology, neurology, psychiatry
https://www.bl.uk/visit/reading-rooms/science-reading-rooms
Social Sciences Reading Room: for
educational & social psychology
https://www.bl.uk/visit/reading-rooms/social-sciences-reading-
room
Humanities Reading Room: for
history of science, incl. psychology
https://www.bl.uk/visit/reading-rooms/humanities-reading-room
Free scan to usb, e-mail, photos with CR law
Open access vs in storage stock: most
psychology topics will be housed in storage in
the St. Pancras basements or Boston spa and
need to be ordered via the catalogue
6

7. www.bl.uk
E-Resources in Medicine and Psychology
• AMED: this database covers journals in the fields of complementary medicine, palliative care
and several professions allied to medicine. 1985 to date.
• Behavioural Science eBook collection: 300 eBooks published between 2005 to date covering
a range of behavioural sciences subjects, including monographs, encyclopaedias and
handbooks.
• British Nursing Index: indexes the most popular English language nursing journals published
primarily in the UK. 1985 to date
• CINAHL Plus: database covers nursing and allied health. Includes journal articles, legal cases,
clinical innovations, critical paths, drug records, research instruments and clinical trials. 1937-.
• Health and Psychosocial Instruments: includes tools in the fields of health and psychology,
such as questionnaires, interview schedules, tests, checklists, rating and other scales, coding
schemes, and projective techniques. 1985 to date.
• HMIC (Health Management Information Consortium): includes the Department of Health
Library and King's Fund Library Databases. Offers 250,000+ records citing journal articles,
official publications, academic monographs & research reports covering health and social care
policy and management.
• Medline/Pubmed: includes mental heath and psychiatric
• PILOTS Database: covers international Literature on traumatic stress and other mental-health.
• PsychEXTRA: database includes psychology, behavioural sciences and health related peer-
reviewed, professional and paraprofessional level journal articles
• PsycInfo: database for literature in the psychological, social, behavioral, and health sciences.
1887 to date.
• SCOPUS: database with broad coverage of scientific, technical, medical and social sciences
literature.
• Web of Science (formerly Web of Science): offers access to the Science Citation Index
(1900-present); Social Sciences Citation Index (1956-present) etc.
7

8. www.bl.uk
Research & Reference
Services
8
 PhD open days, training, placements, research
partnerships, EthOS UK theses online
 BL has IRO, Independent Research
Organisation status and will offer a non HE or
GLAM research repository next year.
 Digital scholarship support through the digital
curators and BL Labs team
 Reference specialists can offer 1-2-1 discovery
sessions, answer questions on our collections
via QuestionPoint & chat via the web site at:
 http://www.bl.uk/help/reference-enquiry-team

9. www.bl.uk
Thank you for listening: Any Questions
9