Library/Archive
Please contact us to arrange a visit.
The ground floor is wheelchair accessible (via a moderately inclined concrete ramp), but please note that we unfortunately do not have accessible toilet facilities. However, St Ann’s Valley Centre is just around the corner, offering good accessible toileting facilities (please see their website for their opening hours). We know that this is far from ideal and we hope to remedy this situation in the future.
Please note that some materials may be stored off site and need to be requested by visitors. Please get in touch to let us know what you are looking for before your visit.
Most materials which were not originally designed for publication (internal documents, correspondence, etc.) cannot be routinely accessed. If you want to request special access for research purposes, please just get in touch.
Since the Sparrows' Nest opened in December 2008 we have continuously worked to process our ever extending collections, preserving, cataloguing and if possible digitising materials.
Please note that despite us putting many hours of work into cataloguing our collections, there remain many items yet uncatalogued, and if you have some time to spare, we always appreciate some help please!
To access the catalogue and to search for digitised documents, please use our Search function.
If you have any questions, spotted an error or want to ask for/add additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
If you have any materials you would like to donate or to be held in the library or archive, please contact us!
Donations to help us build the collections are very welcome. Please visit our Donations page.
Some of our greatest treasures arrived looking like random heaps of smelly paper. So if you have access to potentially interesting materials, be it pamphlets, bulletines, zines, papers, letters, etc. please DO NOT throw them out, but let us know!
It is possible to borrow books from the Sparrows’ Nest. Whether or not that is possible will be decided on a case by case basis. The decision is usually based on how difficult it would be to replace an item should you decide to make a run for it.
Therefore, most books are available for a loan period of up to four weeks. We will take your name and contact details. You can renew your loaned items by email for another four weeks if you need to do so.
You are responsible to return materials. If you do not return items and ignore our reminders, you are stopping others from accessing the materials and force us to waste some of our very limited funds to replace the stuff.
Given that the vast majority of our journals, pamphlets, zines, etc. are no longer in print and thus rare or even unique, you cannot borrow these items. We are however happy to digitise and add them to the Digital Library for you to enjoy/work with from home.