LSE Shaw Library

Founded by LSE in 1939 with an endowment by George Bernard Shaw’s wife Charlotte, the Shaw Library is a wonderful place for LSE staff and students to read, relax and escape the busy London life.

The Shaw Library is one of the atypically wonderful things about LSE. LSE as a university is pretty heavy going with high work loads, a strong emphasis on individual work and a generally smug pseudo-​corporate operating mentality. As such being a student there can be a bit of a drag sometimes.
The Shaw Library however, goes against all this and is something of a haven. It is a large open plan room with arm chairs and sofas. There are books in the bookshelves but people rarely read them. The dailies and weeklies are set out on a table at the entrance. Thus, the library feels a little like a gentlemen’s club. People sit around reading, and some do a little work (although noise is discouraged, so no laptops). It serves most students though as a place to go for a nap, and the majority of people there are generally asleep.
There are also free concerts occasionally at lunch times.
The Shaw Library is a great place for ULU and LSE students in need of a quick break.

Now strictly speaking, this library is only supposed to be open to the esteemed students of London School of Economics. If you fit that description, or have a friend who does, or if you just have any friend cheeky enough to accompany you on an adventure, you’ll find one of the best libraries in London nestled away discretely on the top floor of this otherwise anonymous building in LSE’s city centre campus.
There is no need for ID cards to get past security on the ground floor. Just walktz by looking academic and make a beeline for the lifts. What you’ll find at the 5^th floor is one medium-​sized room replete with textbook oak-​panelled shelves lined with all sorts of tomes and journals, magazines and newspapers, as well as old, creaky leather armchairs in each corner where you can enjoy them.
Needless to say, without an LSE card, you can’t take them out. But this is a perfect environment for whiling a few hours away from the bustle of central London. If you grow tired of reading, step out onto the balcony for a view across the rooftops of Lincoln’s Inn Fields. There is also a rooftop café in the same building.