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.
RCSEd Library
Explore a wealth of fascinating historical stock dating from the 15th century to the present at the RCSEd Library
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 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 to develop their understanding of the history of medicine and surgery.
Library Services
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.
Find out more here.
We can send you articles held here at the College or ordered from libraries around the world. These can be delivered to you in only a few hours.
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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 specialty and sent out to you by e-mail or post.
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The library has over 35,000 books and periodicals dating from 1460 to the present day and an archive resource dating back to 1503 in continuum. Material can be assembled for lectures and speeches and historical/biographical queries resolved. Please see our collections. The College 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 Library has a vast array of surgical and historical images, some of which can be found on this website. 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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Library Photos
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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Contact us
For more information, please email the Library staff: library@rcsed.ac.uk