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Use the ZSL Library catalogue to search:

  • All our serial (journal) holdings
  • Most books in our collection
  • ZSL Artwork collection
  • Links to relevant online resources

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Our artworks have been catalogued with funding from the Michael Marks Trust. Artworks and artefacts are not all listed individually, some are listed as collections.

View our Library catalogue FAQs

Please see below for information about our Archives Catalogue and website.

Retrospective Book Cataloguing

All the books within its Reading Room have been added to the online catalogue.  A Retrospective Book Cataloguing Project commenced in Summer 2010 after a generous bequest by former staff member, Connie Nutkins.

For many years, ZSL Library has had a large gap in its online catalogue, where books published between 1860 and 1993 could only be located via the physical card catalogue located in the Library’s Reading Room. The limited access to the Library catalogue meant that many researchers were not aware of the items held in this unique collection. It had been hoped for some time that a cataloguing project would help widen access to the Library, and it was only after Connie’s kind bequest that the project became a reality.

By the end of Autumn 2014, all the books in the Reading Room had systematically been added to the Library’s online catalogue, with the benefit of not only increasing access to the collection but also giving Library staff an opportunity to perform a thorough stock check and perform conservation reports.

This was a key project in helping ZSL to deliver the strategic aim of facilitating access to zoological and conservation knowledge.

Thanks must go to the staff and volunteers who have worked so hard on this project, and a special thank you to the late Connie Nutkins who made the project possible.

Search our new ZSL Archives Catalogue

books on a shelf

Use this new catalogue and website to find out about our institutional archives and more about ZSL's history.

This new catalogue is a great achievement for ZSL Library and Archives ahead of ZSL’s 200th anniversary, and will open up the collections to anyone interested in the history of ZSL. As we approach the anniversary, the catalogue will continue to be enhanced and developed.

Search the ZSL Archives Catalogue

The archive website includes a ‘News’ page where we will post updates about the Archives, blog posts and information about upcoming events. ‘About the Archives’ provides a general overview of ZSL’s Archives collections. ‘Explore Archive Topics’ provides information about famous ZSL animals, people and architecture. ‘How to search’ includes handy tips for searching the catalogue. Finally there is a link to ‘Search the Archive’ and delve into the history of ZSL and the zoos it owns: ZSL London and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo.

Legacy archive data has been transferred from the ZSL Library catalogue to the new AtoM (Access to Memory) open-source software and the records are being enhanced to make them as accessible as possible for colleagues across ZSL and external researchers.

Thank you to Max Communications for designing and developing the new catalogue and website, and to Sarah Broadhurst, ZSL’s former Archivist who started work on the new catalogue.

If you experience any problems with the catalogues please contact us at library@zsl.org.

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