The Library is primarily a reference library, so borrowing is restricted.  The only other lending service available is offered by Middle Temple Library, which permits barristers and students of any Inn, on production of suitable ID, to borrow current editions of textbooks that are not loose-leaf - but not any other material - half an hour before closing for return by half an hour after opening the following day.

Who may borrow

Only barristers who are members of the Inn or who have chambers in the Inn and their pupils may borrow.  There are separate, more limited, arrangements for borrowing by student members of the Inn (see below)

Overnight and weekend loans

Any item may be borrowed overnight or for the weekend, except for a few heavily used items from behind the enquiry desk that are marked “not for overnight loan”.  During our full hours, books may be taken after 6 pm and must be returned by 9.30 am the following day (or Monday if borrowed on a Friday).  Before 9 am, when the Library opens, books may be returned to the main gate.

If you plan to borrow over the weekend during term, first check the Inn libraries’ Saturday opening calendar (on the Opening Hours page).  When it is the turn of Lincoln’s Inn Library to be open – one Saturday in four – then borrowing is suspended on Friday evenings.  Books can be taken out on Saturday for the remainder of the weekend between 4.45 pm and 5 pm (when the Library closes).

Loans for photocopying

Photocopying of lengthy material from a single work that is still in copyright will almost certainly be illegal unless it is for the purposes of judicial proceedings.  If making the copies would not be a breach of copyright, then items may be borrowed for up to two hours for photocopying in chambers when the extent, in aggregate, exceeds 50 pages of copying (so usually for standard size books, 100 pages of text).

Long term loans

Materials other than those listed below may be borrowed up to one month, provided that photocopying from them would not be feasible.

Materials that may not be borrowed on long term loan are:

• Law reports, journals, legislation, parliamentary papers and other serials.
• Current English and European legal textbooks (ie those shelved in the Textbook Bay, behind the enquiry desk, in cases 47, 48 and 56, and in Desks I and III).
• Other legal textbooks published in the last ten years.
• Dictionaries, directories and other reference works (ie cases 65, 73, 90-93, 171-2, and Desks VIIA and VIII).
• Books from Desk XIV (the main collection of English legal history).

Books not lent at all

The Librarian has discretion to decline to lend, under any of the above categories of loan, rare books (which will usually mean all pre-1801 books) or books in poor condition.

Borrowing by students

There is a Student Lending Scheme comprising a small collection of student textbooks kept behind the enquiry desk.  Two books may be borrowed for two weeks.  If you wish to use this service you need to register (with your Lincoln’s Inn student card), which can be done when you first borrow a book.  A list of the books and a leaflet explaining the details of the scheme are available and can be downloaded.

Student Lending Scheme - List of Books

Student Lending Scheme - explanatory leaflet

In addition one student textbook from the reference collection behind the desk, but not any of the practitioner works, may be borrowed overnight or for the weekend.   

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