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Library & Information Services (LIS)

The Library and Information Services Directorate is responsible for the SOAS Library (the UK National Research Library for Asia, Africa and the Middle East), the provision of the School's Information Systems and the Learning Resources, IT and Media Services upon which its Learning, Teaching and Research depends. The directorate was formed in March 2009 and is currently working towards a fully converged-service model for its user-facing services.

The directorate is organised into three primary divisions:  the SOAS Library (Research Library Services including Acquisitions & Bibliographic Services, Archives & Special Collections, Teaching & Research Support); Information Systems (primary ICT infrastructure and corporate systems); Operational Services (support for all users of services including Library Reader Services, the LIS Service Desk, Media & Printing Services, Classroom Support).  There is an Assistant Director who is responsible for each of these major sections within the directorate, supported by a small central administration team.

The SOAS Centre for Digital Asia, Africa and the Middle East (CeDAAME), based in the SOAS Library, was established with the support of JISC and is now being developed as a permanent SOAS Digital Library, responsible for the development, curation and preservation of the School's digital assets.

During the 2012/13 session it is anticipated that a number of new initiatives will lead to a more robust network and systems infrastructure, improvements in the SOAS Library and the development of the LIS Service Desk as a focus for all telephone, e-mail and web enquiries.

For detailed information about the services offered by Library and Information Services, please follow the links below:

As part of the initiatives to improve SOAS' on-line services, LIS staff are currently participating in a pilot project to investigate the use of Microsoft Sharepoint as a platform for a range of secure intranet services.  The link for this pilot is

 NOTE:  a login is required and this is currently restricted to LIS staff only.