UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Cambridge University Library (the UL) is one of the world’s great research libraries. It is home to over 8 million books, journals and other items. As one of six Legal Deposit libraries in the UK and Ireland, it is entitled to a copy of every publication in the UK. Over 2.5 million books can be borrowed by staff and students of the University of Cambridge, making it the largest borrowable, open shelf collection in Europe.

The UL is over 600 years old. The current building was built in 1934 and designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott; architect of Battersea Power Station and Bankside Power Station, now the Tate Modern. Scott designed the iconic British red telephone box, the shapes of which are reminiscent in the UL’s windows.

The UL is part of a wider network of Cambridge University libraries. There are 114 libraries in Cambridge, which include departmental, faculty and College libraries. CamGuides, created by the libraries, helps students prepare for their studies in Cambridge. It focuses on some of the academic and information practices and skills that students commonly engage in or require for their degrees.

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Cambridge University Library is one of the world’s great research libraries. It is home to over 8 million books, journals and other items. As one of 6 Legal Deposit libraries in the UK, it is entitled to a copy of every publication in the UK.

HOW THE LIBRARY WORKS

The UL serves members of the University of Cambridge, its affiliated institutions, and private researchers. This article will introduce you to the practicalities of using the Library.

Before entering, all readers must place any large bags in the locker room. The UL houses many rare and special collections, so security is stricter than in many libraries. Pens, pencils, laptops, notes etc. can be brought inside in a transparent bag, which may be bought from the Reader Services Desk in the Entrance Hall for 20p.

Undergraduates can borrow 10 books at a time and postgraduates can borrow 20 items. 2 million books are on the 42 miles of open shelves (‘the stacks’). The remaining 6 million are housed in high density storage and can be fetched by a member of library staff, usually within 30 minutes, or one day if they are in the offsite Library Storage Facility, which was opened in 2018.

To find books in the stacks, you’ll use the UL’s?unique classification system. Each book has a classmark, which includes information about the subject area, the size of the book, the date it was received by the Library, and its position on the shelf. Books in the UL are organised by size to maximise storage efficiency, with ‘a(chǎn)’ denoting the largest book down to ‘d’; the smaller books.
Loans are renewed automatically but can be requested at any time. If another reader requests a book you have on loan, you will receive an email notification and have 3 days to return the book. Overdue requested items incur a?fine?of ￡1 a day.

Hot?and?cold?drinks in covered containers?and?water in bottles with a sealable top may be consumed in designated areas of the Library. These are the stacks, the North?and?South Reading Rooms, corridors?and?courtyards. Water in bottles with a sealable top may also be taken into the Reading Room?and?West Room. No?drink?of any sort is allowed in the Milstein Exhibition Centre, nor in the Special Collections reading rooms: the?Anderson (Music), Aoi (East Asian), Manuscripts, Maps?and?Rare Books rooms. The Library has a popular Tea Room; food?can be eaten here?and in?the courtyards.

You are welcome to take up to four people at a time into the Library for short visits, to view the portrait exhibition in the corridors and to use the Tea Room. You must stay together at all times and sign your visitors in at the Reader Services Desk. Visitors?are not permitted to enter the special collections reading rooms, use the Library’s collections, study facilities or IT resources. If they would like to do so, they may?join the Library?themselves. Visitors under 16 years of age may also accompany you, under the additional condition they do not enter any of the reading rooms.

The UL may seem a little daunting on your first trip, but you will soon start to find your way around and there are always knowledgeable staff on hand, happy to help you with any enquiry you have.

LEGAL DEPOSIT AND THE TOWER

At 157 feet tall?Cambridge University Library’s tower?is its most recognisable feature. Its contents (ten of its 17 floors are filled with books) and its collections demonstrate the breadth of the Library’s holdings, due to its status as a?Legal Deposit?library.

The Tower Collection is an Aladdin’s cave for book lovers and historians alike where valuable first editions jostle for shelf space alongside Victorian toys and games, colourful children’s books, Edwardian fiction (beautifully preserved in their original dust jackets) and popular magazines of the day.

The oldest items in the Tower date from?1710, with the most recent material dating from the 21st century. The Library’s mammoth collection of material gives researchers access to an almost unparalleled collection. The Tower’s?twentieth-century fiction collection?can tell us much about regional attitudes and the UK’s particularly rich tradition of regional writing. It is an additional bonus to have so many in their original dust jackets, giving an insight into publishers’ opinions of their books and the artistry used to sell these to the public.

While first editions of books such as The Hobbit, Casino Royale and The Famous Five series are considered literary classics today, such novels were deemed of little academic value at the time of publication and effectively banished to the Tower. There, they sit alongside the myriad toys, board games, Valentine’s cards, pop-up books and Mr Men cartoons, which have all found their way into the Tower since its completion in 1934.

The Tower Collection can tell us much about social history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Holdings are not limited to printed books, but include a number of toys and games – many now exceedingly rare – which came to Cambridge under the Copyright Act because they were produced alongside books by the same publishers.

University of Cambridge students have access to the rich collections of the University Library, as well as access to a?departmental or faculty library and a college library. The broad range of material found in Cambridge University libraries and online, ensures that students have access to rich resources for both key texts and in-depth research.

Further explore?Cambridge University libraries’ holdings.

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Cambridge University Library’s?Special Collections?include the oldest and most valuable materials in the Library, in manuscript, printed and artefact form, as well as modern maps and music.? The oldest inscribed item in the collection is a?Sumerian clay tablet?with lines of text in cuneiform script, dated to ca 2200 BCE.

• The Department of Manuscripts and?University Archives?is home to a wide range of material, from important medieval manuscripts to collections of personal papers dating from the twentieth century. It includes scientific collections, business archives, the records of the University and political papers. Cambridge University PhD theses are also held by the department.

• The Rare Book collections?of the Library cover all subjects of study and include material from the first European printing presses in the fifteenth century up to the present day, and publications from all parts of the world. The Department is responsible for most of the older printed material in the Library, as well as more recent publications which require special care or which have interesting provenances.

• The?Map Department?is home to the Library’s cartographic resources and has over 1.3 million maps of all parts of the world dating from the 15th century to the present.? The Department also has atlases, views, gazetteers, books on cartography, and the latest Ordnance Survey digital map data.

• The Music Department?has a large and comprehensive collection of books and printed music. The Library’s early printed music has extensive holdings of early editions including several musical incunabula. The Department is also home to sound recordings, manuscript music and concert programmes.

We are committed to using Special Collections to support research and teaching, and to developing digital services in partnership with?Cambridge Digital Library,?Cambridge Digital Humanities?and others to make the collections openly accessible to the widest possible audience in new and innovative ways.

At the same time, we recognise the enduring importance of the physical collections. Our?Conservation and Collection Care Department?plays a vital role in preserving this unique cultural heritage, ensuring its continued care and accessibility for future generations.

Exhibitions, talks and activities are held year-round as part of our programme of public events and many of our exhibitions are also?available online. Several items from the collections are showcased as part of the?Cambridge Digital Library.

For a research student the resources available to you in the University Library are first class. To explore more, visit our?Special Collections?blog?or follow us on Twitter?@ULSpecColl.