Services and Access

If you wish to visit the reading room, please read the guidance on our Visitor Information pages carefully, including the requirement for online registration. Our reading room will operate between 10am and 4pm on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and 10am to 6.30pm on Wednesday. All appointments need to be booked in advance by contacting us (lhsa@ed.ac.uk).

If you are unable to visit us, we also offer opportunities for virtual consultations through one hour sessions on Mondays: please see Visitor Information for more information. All virtual appointments need to be booked in advance by contacting us (lhsa@ed.ac.uk).

Up to date information about the University of Edinburgh's response to COVID-19 is available here.

Information about wider library services is available on the library webpages.

Consulting Our Material

Lothian Health Services Archive is based in the Centre for Research Collections (CRC) on the 6th floor of the Main Library, University of Edinburgh. The majority of our collections are held in this building, with a proportion of our material is housed in the University Collections Facility to the south of the City Centre. Reading Room facilities are available at both locations. There is no charge to consult our records.

Please contact us to make an appointment before visiting. As a small team, we ask this so that:

we can ensure that a member of LHSA staff is available to help you with your research
we can ensure that you are directed to the correct location (Main Library or University Collections Facility) depending on which records you'd like to consult
we can ensure that the records you'd like to consult are ready for you on arrival, otherwise you will have to wait until the next collection time
we can advise you in advance of any restrictions on access which may apply

Please view our video guide for information on handling collections material safely in the CRC reading room.

Making an Enquiry

If you are unable to visit LHSA in person, or are unsure initially about whether we can assist you in your research, our enquiries staff are happy to help you. Please contact us with any questions.

Talks and Tours

We can offer tours of the archive to small groups, which include a look 'behind the scenes' into an archive store and displays of items from the archive. We are also available to give talks about LHSA, our records, and the work we do. These can be offered at the Main Library, at local venues, and on virtual platforms (such as Zoom or Teams). Please contact us for more information.