The College Fellows, Members and Affiliates have access to a well-resourced medical and surgical library, offering the latest in texts, journals, electronic resources and a wealth of fascinating historical stock dating from the 15th century to the present.
Library and Archive
Access an extensive range of information resources from the 15th century to the present at the Library and Archive.
RCSEd Fellows and Members are eligible for free full-text access to thousands of electronic journals, books and databases through the Knowledge Network. Fellows and Members of the College can email the Library and Archive and will be sent a brief PDF guide to registering for an Athens username and password for these excellent resources.
Medical historians, researchers, students of the history of medicine and interested members of the public are also welcome to make an appointment to visit the Library and Archive to develop their understanding of the history of medicine and surgery.
Services Overview
The College Library provides a free literature search service to all Fellows and Members. Comprehensive searches can be carried out on any particular subject by a qualified librarian. We also offer a Current Awareness service, including bespoke literature searches performed at regular intervals to keep you informed on the latest developments in your speciality.
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Through our own collections and our partnerships with publishers and other institutions, we can help provide you with the most up to date articles and publications.
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The library has over 70,000 books and periodicals dating from 1460 to the present day and an institutional archive resource dating back to 1504 in continuum. Material can be assembled for lectures and speeches and historical/biographical queries resolved. The College Archive also houses a large number of private collections and papers from such Fellows as Joseph Bell, James Young Simpson and Joseph Lister to name a few.
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The College Library and Archive contains papers and its Minute books, from 1504. It has titles by Vesalius, Bell, Monro, Ambroise Paré, William Harvey, and other famous names. The "Adopt a Book" project will fund some book restoration.
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The Library has a vast array of surgical and historical images. If you wish to reproduce any of our images we can provide you with high quality scans or hard copies. Please note that the images shown on this website are copyright to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and may not be reproduced without prior written permission.
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Search Library and Archive Collections
This database includes items from the College’s museum, library and archive collections. All collection records are searchable, ranging from human specimens and surgical artworks, to books and archive material. It is a constantly evolving catalogue as we continue to add new acquisitions, as well as enhance existing records.
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In this resource users can search and study digitised documents and photographs from our historic archive (Special Collections), as well as lists and biographical registers of every surgeon who has obtained a College qualification from our origins to 1918 (via the Surgeons Database). It will also be possible to purchase and download images of interest.
Find out more here.
eBook Collection
All members of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh may access the Library's collection of electronic books. The link will take the user to the RCSEd website where they will be required to log in using their College login details.
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Library Photos
Contact us
For more information, please email the Library and Archive staff: library@rcsed.ac.uk