Fellows and Associate Members of the Linnean Society of London residing in the United Kingdom can borrow up to six books from the Library, with the following exceptions:

Books published before 1900
Periodicals and serials
Items containing original artwork or hand-coloured illustrations
Oversize, rare, valuable or fragile books
Items containing or consisting of manuscript material, including annotations
Books with an important provenance or association

The loan period is one month, and renewable if not required by another user.

Borrowers will receive an email reminder when their books are due. The Society does not charge overdue fees, but borrowers may be charged for the replacement of books that are lost or deliberately damaged.

A postal loans service is available for UK-based members unable to visit our premises in person. Loans are sent by Royal Mail Recorded Delivery, with postage to be paid by the borrower. We ask that all postal loans are returned to the Society by a tracked method. Borrowers will be liable for any library returns lost or damaged in the post that are not sent by a tracked method.

We regret that Student Associate Members are not currently entitled to borrow books, but are very welcome to use the library on a reference basis.

Some limited reciprocal access agreements are available in connection with the other Burlington House Societies. If you wish to use another Society’s library—or have any other questions about borrowing library books—please contact the library.

Managing Library Loans

Fellows and Associate Members can manage their library loans online by logging in via the library catalogue. Members will need to have registered for a library account, either in person at Burlington House, or by email.

To login, members will need their Linnean Society membership number, and their unique PIN. You can check your membership number yourself by logging in to the members’ area of our website. Alternatively, you can email membership@linnean.org.

Your PIN number will be issued to you when your library account is created. Please note, for privacy and security reasons, Linnean Society staff will be unable to tell you your PIN if you lose or forget it. However, we will be able to issue a fresh PIN on request. Please email library@linnean.org to reset your PIN.

If you would like to amend the details associated with your library account—such as your email address—please contact us. Likewise, if you would like to close your account—because you have withdrawn from membership, for example—please let us know.

All information held about you for the purpose of administering library loans—in this case limited to only your name, your email address, and your membership number—is governed by our data protection and privacy policy. Your data will only be used for the purposes of administering your library loans, and will be retained for only as long as you remain in membership. It may be reviewed or deleted at any time, at the subject’s request.