About us

Through its collections and services, the Wellcome Library provides insight and information to anyone seeking to understand medicine and its role in society, past and present. More than 30 000 readers visited us last year, including historians, academics, students, health professionals and consumers, journalists, artists and members of the general public.

Part of Wellcome Collection, a major new £30 million public venue developed by the Wellcome Trust, the Library has over 750 000 books and journals, an extensive range of manuscripts, archives and films, and more than 250 000 pictures. We are one of the world's major resources for the study of medical history and we also provide access to a growing collection of contemporary biomedical information resources relating to consumer health, popular science, biomedical ethics and the public understanding of science.

Find out more about Wellcome Collection below.

In 2005 the Wellcome Library was awarded 'Designated' status by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. This means that its collections have been recognised as being outstanding as an historical, evidential and cultural resource of national and international importance in the field of the history of medicine. The accolade gives public recognition to the significance of the Library's rich and diverse holdings, and to the fact that the Library meets high standards in collection management and service to the public.

Contact
Library contact information.

Library Advisory Committee
Find out about the Library Advisory Committee below.

Library strategy and policy documents
Formal statements of Library policy and procedure, including cataloguing, collection development, conversation and internet use.

FAQs
Frequently asked questions.

History
A brief history of the Wellcome Library.

The Year in Review
Copies of the Wellcome Library's annual review, available for downloading.

Vital statistics
Find out more facts and figures about the Wellcome Library.

User experience survey – November 2007
A summary of user feedback and our plans for improving Library services

Donating materials
The Wellcome Library is always interested to consider offers of donations of relevant materials for its collections.

Wellcome Collection

Part gallery, part museum, an extraordinary library, café, conference centre and more, Wellcome Collection takes a thoughtful and experimental look at medicine, life and art, rooting science in the broad context of health and wellbeing.

Where else could you find an ancient mummy, Napoleon's toothbrush, Darwin's walking stick, a DNA sequencing robot and a Marc Quinn sculpture under one roof?

Over 1500 exhibits spanning six centuries, plus extensive collections in the library, portray the development in our understanding of wellbeing and human identity. From the macabre to the bizarre to the beautiful, Wellcome Collection allows visitors to see objects as disparate as the guillotine blade used to execute Jean-Baptiste Carrier (an extreme Jacobin who reportedly committed atrocities during the French Revolution) and a giant jelly baby.

Library Advisory Committee

Formal governance of the Library is conducted through the Library Advisory Committee, whose recommendations on our proposals for strategic developments are taken to the Wellcome Trust Executive Board and Governors for consideration.