Subject strengths: Literature, Children's Literature

In the 1970s, Book Trust (now Booktrust) and Arts Council Great Britain (now Arts Council England), recognising that Britain is a world leader in children’s publishing, worked with the nation’s publishers of children’s books to establish the Booktrust collection. The Booktrust collection was conceived and developed as an informal deposit library with children’s publishers agreeing to send books as they become available. The Collection has grown so that it now totals some 70,000 volumes, including new titles, reprints, existing books in new formats and books in translation.

In 2004 the Collection was transferred to Newcastle University’s Robinson Library (now the Philip Robinson Library). Bringing the Collection to Newcastle meant that it became part of the partnership between the University and Seven Stories: National Centre for Children’s Books.

This collection continues to grow thanks to the past and ongoing commitment and generosity of the UK publishing industry. Many publishers have been involved since the collection was created in the 1970s, and recent contributors include: Child's Play, Tate, O'Brien, Lantana and Macmillan.

 

Collection Name and Collection Reference Code:

Collection Name: Booktrust Collection

Library Search Collection Ref Code: Booktrust

Date Range of Material

17th Century - present

Type of Material

Children’s book collection

Size of Collection

100+ Linear Metres of shelving 

How To Order Items From This Collection

The Booktrust Collection is available to browse and consult in Your Space on Level 1 of the Philip Robinson Library. These are not available for loan and can only be consulted within the library.

This link to the Library Search will show a list of all the items within the collection. Please note this link is available to members of the public as well as University staff and students.

Unable to visit our Reading Room?

If you are unable to visit our reading room, we also have a virtual reading room service and digitisation service. 

Projects, Progress, Updates

Work on cataloguing the Booktrust Collection is currently in progress. Material currently catalogued is available via the Library Search.

Other resources

Material from this collection was used in our Treasures of the month feature for September 2018.