Services
The Lindley Library offers a wide range of services. Many services are free, and most are available to everyone. Some services are tailored to suit the needs of particular groups.
Enquiry Services
Lending Services
Photocopying Services
Enquiry Services
The library staff at London and Wisley operate a specialist enquiry service, welcoming non-commercial enquiries from the public on garden-related subjects. Contact us in person, by e-mail, letter or telephone. The staff can carry out a selective search of the available literature, and other resources, to help with your enquiry. For visitors to the Garden Libraries at Harlow Carr, Hyde Hall and Rosemoor, volunteers will direct you to the books you need. If you have a more detailed enquiry, please contact the staff at Wisley Library – the Garden Libraries’ operations centre.
Examples of our main enquiry topics include:
- Information on people – gardeners past and present, plant breeders, botanical artists, garden designers, plant hunters
- Reading lists on gardening topics, for example: ornamental grasses, organic gardening, wildlife gardening, herbs, Mediterranean gardening
- Garden history (including lists of plants available at a particular period)
- History of the RHS and Wisley
- Folklore of plants
- Information on notable gardens – both in the UK and overseas
- Gardening abroad & overseas horticultural associations
- General enquiries on plant names, including fruit – such as history, origin and meaning. Members’ specialist enquiries are referred to the RHS Botany Department
- Statistics on gardening and horticulture
- Where to buy particular plants in the UK
- Plant information – particularly for the public. We can provide basic information from the literature, and provide a booklist. RHS Members wanting advice on plant cultivation are referred to the RHS Horticultural Advisory Department
You can also find out more about Our Collections , and find information by Searching the Library Catalogues.
Lending Services
Members of the RHS may borrow from London and Wisley. Harlow Carr also offers a limited lending service.
Material can be sent between London and Wisley for reference or lending, at the Librarian’s discretion.
Registration Form
You will be asked to complete a short registration form (pdf) before you borrow for the first time. You can print out and complete the form, and bring it with you when you visit.
Library Cards
You will be given a Library card to be shown whenever you borrow. Your card is valid for the same period as your RHS membership. We may ask to see your new RHS card in order to update your Library membership.
To borrow by post
If you cannot visit the Libraries, you can borrow by post from London. Postal charges are calculated at cost – we ask that you check the packaging to establish the cost of outward postage, and send your payment together with the enclosed invoice on receipt of the parcel. You will also pay the cost of postage when returning books to us.
Photocopying Services
All photocopying of printed material is provided for non-commercial use only. Guidance on copyright law is available from the Copyright Licensing Agency .
Self-service photocopying
London and Wisley have self-service photocopy facilities available. Contact individual libraries for current photocopying charges. Smaller Garden Libraries have very limited photocopying facilities
Older or fragile volumes may not be photocopied.
Requesting documents by post
London and Wisley can supply photocopies of printed material by post, provided it is for a non-commercial purpose. A Photocopy Request Form - incorporating a copyright declaration form - must be completed and signed for each item, and returned to the Library together with your payment. Contact staff at London or Wisley, for more information about our charges.
Please make cheques payable to: Royal Horticultural Society.