Heythrop Library

Frequently I get asked who uses our Library. I don’t think that most people asking me this are those who would dismiss the value of a research library with over 200,000 volumes for theology and philosophy in London. Rather, I believe that they are thinking along the lines that for most other libraries people might have used are different; such libraries might have a more obvious, narrow user base, or community: think either of university libraries (providing resources to the specific staff and students at an institution), or public libraries (offering services and materials to people living in a relatively clear, geographical area).

To pick on the last point first: in terms of where our users live. They live largely in London and the Greater London area (no surprise there); however, we have a significant number of users who live outside the M25, and many live further than 2 hours away from London (Bristol, Sheffield, Rugby and Birmingham come to my mind – without having done an exact analysis of all our users’ place of residency!). Our collection even attracts grad students and post-docs from Cambridge or Oxford, and one normally assumes that there are “enough” books or journals in both places! (Of course, the more specialized one’s research or studies become the less likely it will be that libraries offering a broader range of subjects will “go deep” and have these “niche” books or serials).

Apart from maybe the most obvious users for an academic/research library (university students and academic staff) what are the backgrounds of our readers? Unsurprisingly, there are also a fair number of Jesuits who use the Library, as well as a very high number of (non-Jesuit) ordained Christians (priests, deacons, or order members). Next, there are adults attending courses at the London Jesuit Centre (including those participants of LJC offerings, as well as those teaching or studying as part of the Ignatian Spirituality Course. In addition, there are private researchers (either on the level of working on their own publications, or with maybe a more modest aim: to explore theology and philosophy for their own personal development or spiritual and intellectual inspiration).

I would love to present exact numbers to you, but we are currently “re-categorising” some of our member’s data, which means that in the total of 455 records of Heythrop Library borrowers we lack the correct statistical categories for 70 people, which I think is a significant number to make statistics less valuable):

Also, a great total of 134 member records have expired – this might look alarming, but it is important to know that we are early in the academic year, and that those who do not benefit from free membership, and are connected to a degree, have either finished their degrees/academic assignments and projects, or have not started these yet in earnest on the more specialized course work – so they have not applied for membership yet.

Apart from (the anecdotal) 150 to 200 regular library users, it is not uncommon for some members to borrow or consult our materials for a couple of weeks or months, and then to stay away from us: they focus on writing up their findings. There are also a fair number of members who sign up to consult with us only a handful of our books, or journal issues, some of which are unique in the UK.

Finally, these 14 borrowers with “no initial payments” might intrigue you. Since 1 March 2025, we introduced a one-off, non-refundable admin fee for everyone who asks for their first card (the first time they become a member). Our reasons for introducing this admin fee were explained in a news item. This applies even to those who benefit from free membership. The effect has been positive as far as the environment and the Library team’s sanity are concerned: in previous year we removed about 40-60 unused and uncollected cards per year, needing to cut-up laminated paper, and putting the detritus into our bin, destined for landfill. There will be people who will not pay the initial admin charge, but at least we won’t have so much laminated bits of paper to deal with any more.

I hope to fix some of the data issues in the coming months, and hope to update you with a slightly more nuanced overview of our membership. As more records hit the 6-month point, after the membership expired, we will also remove more records; also, anyone who hasn’t paid the initial admin charge will be removed after 3 months. Watch this space, if you are interested in who uses the Heythrop Library.

CG