Institute of Child Health Library

The Friends of the Children of Great Ormond Street Library, the Library’s official title due to the generous financial support of the Friends, is jointly funded by the Institute of Child Health (ICH) and the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust (GOSH). It is the recognised specialist library for paediatrics within the University of London, and is of great national importance. The Institute formally merged with UCL in 1996.

The new extension to the ICH Library

GOSH was founded in 1852. ICH was founded in 1946. Its mission is “to improve the health of children by being the foremost centre of excellence in Europe for specialist paediatric services and for research, evaluation and education in the field of child health”. The ICH was originally based in converted ground floor rooms in GOSH, but in 1966 new premises at 30 Guilford Street were opened by the Queen. Since then the premises have been greatly extended, to include the Wellcome Trust Building (1998), and the more recently completed Philip Ullmann Wing (November 2000).

In 1996 the Library’s facilities were refurbished, entirely replacing those dating from 1966. The Philip Ullmann Wing incorporates another extension to the Library. The Library incorporates the Centre for International Child Health’s Resource Centre, containing multimedia materials relating to disability and maternal child health in less developed countries (LDCs). Further to the main Library’s holdings, the Resource Centre takes over 300 journals and newsletters, many produced in LDCs. These collections are virtually unique within the UK and are extensively consulted.

The Library is currently staffed by four full-time staff, John Clarke, Sue Woodburn, Anna Mitman and Teresa Wood. The Library is specifically designed to serve all staff on site and it takes over 250 current journals, housing about 11,000 books and monographs. The Library supplies photocopies from its specialist journals to the North Thames Region and to a number of paediatric libraries throughout the UK. ICH and the Institute of Ophthalmology were jointly assessed by the Quality Assurance Agency and scored 23/24. Learning resources scored 4/4 and the Library was highly praised by the assessors.

Content by John Clarke
Further information from library@ich.ucl.ac.uk
or from the ICH website: www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/library/libguide.htm