Cambridge University Library

Cambridge University Library

Cambridge University Library
Country	England
Type	Academic library
Established	15th century (before 1416)
Location	West Road, Cambridge
Coordinates
Collection
Items collected	books journals newspapers magazines sound and music recordings maps, prints drawings manuscripts
Size	eight million items (approx.)
Legal deposit	Yes
Access and use
Population served	University of Cambridge, and others
Members	University of Cambridge (and some other groups on application)
Other information
Director	Anne Jarvis
Website	www.lib.cam.ac.uk

Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge in England. It is also biggest of 114 libraries within the University.The Library is a major scholarly resource, not only for the University of Cambridge’s academic community, but also for researchers nationally and internationally. Organisationally, Cambridge University Library comprises the main University Library and its affiliated libraries. As of 3 August 2015, there are currently twenty-one affiliated libraries associated with the main University Library, which is often referred to within the University as "the University Library" or just "the UL."

The main University Library is one of the six legal deposit libraries in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the others being the British Library, the Bodleian Library in Oxford, the national libraries of Scotland and Wales, and Trinity College Library Dublin.

Through legal deposit, purchase and donation it receives around 100,000 items every year. The main University Library is unique amongst the Legal Deposit libraries in keeping a large proportion of its material on open access and in allowing some categories of reader (for example Cambridge academics, postgraduates and undergraduates) to borrow from its collections. The main University Library holds approximately 8 million items (including maps and sheet music).

Its original location was the University's "Old Schools" near Senate House until it outgrew the space there and a new library building was constructed in the 1930s. The library took over the site of a former military hospital, the "First Eastern General", on the western edge of Cambridge city centre, now between Robinson College and Memorial Court, Clare College.

The current librarian is Anne Jarvis — the first woman to hold the post — who succeeded Peter Fox on 1 April 2009.

History

Construction of the current main UL building in the 1930s.

As early as the fourteenth century, Cambridge University owned a collection of manuscripts and some printed books. These would have been kept in chests along with other valuables, rather than in a library building as would be recognised today.

A common library can be traced to the beginning of the 15th century, with the first direct reference to a ‘library’. In March 1416 the will of William Loring was proved, which bequeathed three volumes to the library thus: "Item volo quod omnes libri mei juris civilis remaneant in communi libraria scolarium universitatis Cantebrigg' in perpetuum."

The earliest catalogue is dated ca. 1424, at which time there were 122 volumes in the library. The second earliest surviving catalogue was drawn up in 1473, and denotes 330 volumes. From the 16th century onwards it received generous donations or bequests of books and growth was considerably increased once the privilege of legal deposit had been granted.

Architecture

The University Library (background) and Trinity College Wren Library (foreground), as viewed from St John's College chapel tower

The current main University Library building was constructed between 1931 and 1934 under architect Giles Gilbert Scott, who also designed the neighbouring Clare Memorial Court (part of Clare College). It bears a marked resemblance to Scott's industrial architecture, a famous example of which is Bankside Power Station (the home of the Tate Modern). The library tower stands 157 feet (48 metres) tall, six feet shorter than the top of St John's College Chapel and ten feet taller than the peak of King's College Chapel. Contemporary reports stated that in opening the building, Chamberlain referred to it as "this magnificent erection", although this phrase is also attributed by tradition to George V. The fictional "Dark Tower" in the novel of that name (attributed to C. S. Lewis) was a replica of this building. Contrary to popular belief, pornographic material is not stored in the tower.

The library has been extended several times. The main building houses the Japanese and Chinese collections in the Aoi Pavilion, an extension donated by Tadao Aoi and opened in 1998.

Legal deposit library

As a legal deposit library, the main University Library is entitled to claim without charge a copy of all books, journals, printed maps and music published in Britain and Ireland. This has contributed to the library's large holdings of over seven million books and 1.5 million periodicals. Between 800 to 1200 books a week are received through legal deposit.

From 6 April 2013, legal deposit also covers material published digitally and online, so that the Legal Deposit libraries can provide a national archive of the UK’s non-print published material, such as websites, blogs, ejournals and CD-ROMs.

Access

The library is open to all members of the University of Cambridge. As is traditional amongst British university libraries, research postgraduates and academics from other UK universities are allowed reference-only access to the library's collection, and members of the public [1] may apply for access to use the Library for reference if their research requires access to materials held there.

The library is unique amongst the UK's legal deposit libraries in keeping a large proportion of its books on open access and in allowing some categories of reader (for example Cambridge academics, postgraduates and undergraduates) to borrow from its collection. It has a well-used "Tea Room" in which full meals, snacks and beverages are available. The library regularly puts on exhibitions, usually free to the public, and featuring items from its collections.

The Squire Law Library.

Janus

In 2002 the library began a project called "Janus" (after the Roman god) to provide a single point of networked access to catalogues of archives and manuscript collections held throughout Cambridge. A widening number of participating repositories - both University and non-University - promises in due course the near comprehensive coverage of archives in the city and surrounding area.

Digitisation project

In June 2010, Cambridge University announced that a £1.5 million donation would allow them to start digitising some of the collections in the University Library and eventually provide access to them free of charge over the Internet via the Cambridge Digital Library website. Initially the project will focus on two collections called "The Foundations of Faith" and "The Foundations of Science", which includes writings by Isaac Newton and his contemporaries, as well as documents from the Library's archives of Christian, Islamic and Jewish texts.

Bronze book bollard, by Harry Gray

Staff

The official office of Librarian of the University was not established until 1577, when William James was appointed Librarian. The first set of regulations “for the Office of keeping the Library” were then formed in 1582. Little is known of the administration before the late sixteenth century. Before 1577 the University Chaplain had overall responsibility of the Library amongst other duties. 16 potential Chaplain-Librarians have been identified.

In 1721 the post of Principal Librarian (Protobibliothecarius) was created for Conyers Middleton "as a mark of sympathy with him in his opposition to Richard Bentley". In 1828 this post was merged with that of Librarian (Bibliothecarius).

Anne Jarvis is the current University Librarian of the University of Cambridge. She is the 35th Librarian of the University Library. Various scholars have held the position. Abraham Wheelocke was librarian of the "Public Library" at Cambridge University, and was also Reader in Anglo-Saxon in the 17th century. Augustus Theodore Bartholomew was a librarian at Cambridge University for over twenty-five years. The classicist A. F. Scholfield was Librarian from 1923 to 1949. More recent University Librarians have included E. B. Ceadel, F. W. Ratcliffe (1980–1994), and Peter Fox (1994–2009). Other notable members of staff include the bibliographer Henry Bradshaw and the Uranian poet Charles Edward Sayle, author of a history of the library.

Exhibitions

The main University Library hosts exhibitions in its Milstein Exhibition Centre. These change approximately every six to eight months and are open to all, free of charge. The current exhibition commemorates the gift of a large collection of books and manuscripts from George I, and is entitled: "His Royal Favour: The books that built the library". It will run until 23 December 2015.

Special collections

Interior of the main reading room

As part of its collection of more than 8,000,000 volumes, the library contains a wealth of printed and manuscript material from earlier times. This includes:

• A copy of the Gutenberg Bible from 1455, the earliest European example of a book produced using movable type.
• Library of Lord Acton, Catholic historian and Regius Professor of Modern History in 1885–1902. The extensive library (around 60 000 volumes) collected by Lord Acton for research was bequeathed to the University Library on his death. The collection contains books from the 15th to 19th centuries, with emphasis on European history and church history. Many of the books contain annotations in Lord Acton's own hand.
• An archive of Charles Darwin's correspondence and books from his working library (including copies of his own works).
• The Hanson collection, containing important books on navigation and shipbuilding, as well as maritime atlases, some dating from the 16th century.
• The Bradshaw collection, containing more than 14 000 books relating to Ireland, printed in Ireland, or written by Irish authors. This is one of the most important collections of its kind in the world. The collection was formed by Henry Bradshaw, d. 1886. At present, the emphasis is on books printed in Ireland before 1850.
• The library of the typographer Stanley Morison, who had close links with Cambridge University Press.
• "The Royal Library", an important collection of more than 30 000 books assembled by John Moore (1646–1714), Bishop of Ely. The collection was bequeathed to the University Library by George I in 1715, hence the name.
• The library of the Royal Commonwealth Society, containing books, periodicals, pamphlets, photographs and manuscripts relating to the British Empire and the Commonwealth.
• The Bible Society library and the library of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK).
• The Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection, a store of 140 000 manuscripts and manuscript fragments, mainly in Hebrew and Arabic, from the Ben Ezra synagogue in Cairo.
• Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, an important codex of the New Testament dating from the fifth century, written both in Greek and Latin. The Greek text is unique, with many interpolations found nowhere else. It was given to the University of Cambridge by the Protestant scholar Theodore Beza, friend and successor of Calvin; hence the name.
• The Cambridge Songs (Carmina Cantabrigiensia), a collection of Goliardic medieval Latin poems, preserved on ten leaves of the "Codex Cantabrigiensis".
• E.G. Browne's collection of around 480 codices in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish.
• Several composer archives: William Alwyn, Arthur Bliss, Roberto Gerhard, Peter Tranchell.
• Papers of Isaac Newton, Lord Kelvin, Ernest Rutherford, George Gabriel Stokes, Joseph Needham, G. E. Moore and Siegfried Sassoon, among others.
• Archives of the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
• Material and archives of the University of Cambridge, from probates and graces to records of various student societies.
• Around 1.5 million maps.

See also

Libraries within the University of Cambridge

Some manuscripts

• Cambridge University Library, Ff. i.27
• Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 76

Bibliography

• Bradshaw, Henry (1889) Collected Papers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Textus
• Fox, Peter (ed.) (1998) Cambridge University Library: the Great Collections. Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-62636-6 (Paperback ISBN 0-521-62647-1).
• Oates, J. C. T., & McKitterick, D. (1986) Cambridge University Library: a History 2 vols.
  • Oates, J. C. T. Cambridge University Library: a History; [Vol. 1]: From the beginnings to the Copyright Act of Queen Anne. Cambridge: University Press ISBN 0-521-30656-6
  • McKitterick, David Cambridge University Library: a History; [Vol. 2]: the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Cambridge: University Press ISBN 0-521-30655-8
• Ratcliffe, F. W. (2007) Books, Books, Just Miles and Miles of Books: across the library counter, 1950-2000. Cambridge: F. W. Ratcliffe (autobiography)
• Sayle, Charles (1916) Annals of Cambridge University Library 1278-1900. Cambridge: University Library

Descriptions of collections

• Oates, J. C. T. (1954) A Catalogue of the Fifteenth-Century Printed Books in the University Library, Cambridge. Reissued: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ISBN 978-1-108-00848-8 Extracts
• Reif, Stefan C. (1997) Hebrew Manuscripts at Cambridge University Library: a description and introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ISBN 978-0-521-58339-8 Extracts

External links

• Cambridge University Library website
• Library catalogue search
• Cambridge Digital Library
• Photographs taken during building