Printed collections in UCL Library Services are described below. There is also information about:
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The principal collection for Ancient History is in two reading rooms adjoining the North Corridor of the
Main Library (in the Wilkins building). Other collections which may be relevant include
Classics, Jewish
Studies, Roman Law (part of the Law collection) which are all housed in the Main Library. The
Classical Archaeology and
Egyptology collections are located in the
Institute of Archaeology Library, 31-34 Gordon Square (5th floor).
See separate pages for maps and opening hours.
Book collections
The Library has its own classification scheme
for arranging
books on the shelves: a typical classmark for a book on the “open” shelves
will consist of the name of a subject (indicating a section of the Library)
followed by letters and numbers denoting its
classified position on the shelves in that section. For ANCIENT HISTORY the
Garside
classification scheme has a broadly geographical approach –
e.g.
ANCIENT HISTORY D 4..........for books on the sources of Mesopotamian history
ANCIENT HISTORY D 14........for books on the Babylonian ascendancy
ANCIENT HISTORY P 4..........for books on the sources of ancient Greek history
ANCIENT HISTORY P 14........for books on the Peloponnesian War
At UCL we concentrate especially on Greek & Roman history of the early & classical periods, but
also have important sections on Near Eastern history, Byzantine history and the history of the early
Christian Church. The history of Egypt in the Hellenic and Roman eras is covered too but students should
also use the EGYPTOLOGY section in the Institute of Archaeology Library, especially for
earlier and Pharaonic periods.
The Library maintains complete sets of the Cambridge Ancient History (ANCIENT HISTORY A
5 CAM) and the Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt (ANCIENT HISTORY R 5
TEM), both essential tools for the study of ancient history at both undergraduate and research
levels. The ancient history section also includes important series on inscriptions such as Corpus
Inscriptionum Latinarum (ANCIENT HISTORY FOLIOS W 32) and Inscriptiones
Graecae (ANCIENT HISTORY FOLIOS W 25). However, it should be noted that the works
of the ancient historians will be found in the appropriate sections of the CLASSICS
collection in the Library.
Journals covering ancient history are also shelved with this section of the Main Library and have the
prefix CLASSICS Pers, with a display unit for the most recent parts. Journals are
normally available for overnight loan (from 4.00pm). For electronic
journals, see below.
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Electronic sources
Material held in electronic form is available to registered members of UCL: you will usually need your
UCL userid/password for Information Systems in order to gain access to them. For the full list of electronic
databases presently available please consult: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/database/
Databases on the College Network of particular interest to those studying the ancient world include
Database of Classical Bibliography (based on L’Année
Philologique, it is not complete yet it offers references ‘to all known scholarly work published
in any language anywhere in the world’). The Social Sciences
Citation Index covers many of the journals in the field of ancient history
Electronic journals
A range of electronic versions of journal titles is available. Start from the list on the Library's web
pages at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/ejournal/ where you will find
details of access arrangements for each title.
Exam papers
Copies of UCL examination papers for undergraduate courses (from 1997 onwards) are available on the web
at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/exam.shtml. Printed copies of the
undergraduate and postgraduate exam papers for the last 6 years are shelved in the South Corridor of the
Main Library.
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The Institute of Classical Studies Library/Joint
Library of the Hellenic and Roman Societies has an excellent collection on Greek & Roman Ancient
History. The Library at King’s College London
is especially strong on the Byzantine period. The Senate House
(in Malet Street) also holds material in this subject area and any registered member of UCL can join the
library and borrow from there.
For more information about the use of other libraries, see the full information at
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/otherlib.shtml - this includes a link
to http://www.m25lib.ac.uk/ and which offers a subject
based-search of other libraries collection in the London area.
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If you have any problems in using the Library, come to the Enquiry Desk, or ask for the subject librarian
for Ancient History:
Jes Cooban (Wednesdays only)
E-mail: j.cooban@ucl.ac.uk
Telephone: internal: 54062; external: 020 3108 4062
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