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Welcome to the UK’s largest open access specialist dance collection.

Discover Library Resources

We have a vast amount of information on most aspects of dance, including ballet, contemporary dance, choreography, dance health and dance teaching. In addition, we have a growing collection of contextual material in support of the programmes of study at Trinity Laban. Subject areas include fine arts, sociology, education, philosophy and history.

The majority of our resources can be searched via our online Library catalogue. Our online full-text multi-database search tool QuickSearch can also be used to search Trinity Laban libraries’ electronic subscriptions and recommended free online resources along with the Laban Library catalogue.

Main Collection: A Summary

  • The Library holds over 18,000 books, reports, conference proceedings and pamphlets. We also have a growing number of e-book titles, which are accessible to our students on and off-site.
  • There are over 350 print journal titles, some dating back many years, e.g. Dancing Times from 1921 and Dance Magazinefrom 1942. The Library also has a growing collection of e-journals.
  • The Library has over 3000 videos, more than 900 DVDs and 800 music CDs.
  • An institutional video-streaming service, available on-site and off-site, allows staff and students to view and download their class videos. It also provides on-site access to dance-related TV broadcasts, the Videoworks collection, as well as student and professional performances held at Laban.
  • The Videoworks collection: the collection comprises recordings from The Place of performances between 1990 and 1995.

Online Resources

Our most popular electronic resources:

SportDiscus with Full Text

Available on-site, and off-site via student/staff username and password

Indexes periodical articles, books, essays, conference proceedings, research papers etc. in the fields of sports medicine, biomechanics, psychology, training, coaching, physical education and other sport and fitness related topics. Includes over 1.2m records indexed since 1975, including 20,000 theses and 10,000 websites. Also includes full text coverage of over 440 sources, including c. 230 academic journals

International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance with Full Text (IBTD)

Available on-site, and off-site via student/staff username and password

A fully indexed, cross-referenced and annotated database, available on or off-campus for Trinity Laban students. IBTD indexes recent years of 16 of Laban’s print journals and offers full text content of some journals and e-books, including: Dance Chronicle, Dance Teacher, Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, Journal of Dance Education, PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, TDR: The Drama Review.

Independent Dance Review Report

Available as a free download

by Gill Clarke and Rachel Gibson, June 1998

Download PDF

E-books

Available on-site, and off-site via student/staff username and password

A growing number of e-books are available to TL staff and students via the Dawsonera platform, on and off-site. To access these items, go to the site, select the institutional login and enter your TL username and password. If on the other hand you’re searching through the library catalogue, if an online version of a book is available, this will be clearly indicated on the catalogue record. A number of e-books can also be accessed via the IBTD database.

Journals

We have a wide range of journal titles available in hard copy and an increasing number of electronic journals, including: Choreographic Practices, Contact Quarterly, Dance Magazine, Dance Research Journal, Dancing Times, JOPERD, Medical Problems of Performing Artists, Performance Research and Research in Dance Education.

Useful Link

Books and DVDs available to buy from the Online Shop