Resources for Psychiatric Libraries

We work closely with other psychiatric libraries to help set standards and ensure we are all providing the most up to date resources to our members.

Psychiatric Libraries Co-operative Scheme (PLCS)

Login into PLCS

The PLCS is a national network of psychiatric libraries in the United Kingdom, based on a UK wide inter-library loan scheme which has been running for over 25 years. In October 2015, the PLCS became formally affiliated with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which had always maintained a central role as an inaugural member of the scheme and host for committee meetings and events.

The scheme currently has over 60 members, including NHS libraries, Higher Education, and charities such as MIND.

Libraries play a key role in supplying and promoting the evidence base to psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, enabling them to make decisions on treatment options and patient care.  They can also help facilitate research and support lifelong learning.

The PLCS provides a reciprocal article delivery service. Membership of the network enables individual libraries to provide their users with full-text access to a significantly wider knowledge base; helping to support evidence-based healthcare.

In the last few years, the PLCS has organised three highly successful national conferences for mental health librarians. It also oversees the editing of the Core Collection for Mental Health, an acquisition guide for libraries of essential publications, endorsed by the RCPsych.

For more information please contact infoservices@rcpsych.ac.uk