Cambridge University Library
Encyclopedia : C : CA : CAM : Cambridge University Library
The Cambridge University Library is the centrally-administered library of the University of Cambridge in England. It actually comprises five separate libraries: the University Library main building, the Medical Library, the Betty and Gordon Moore Library (Centre for Mathematical Sciences), the Central Science Library (formerly the Scientific Periodicals Library) and the Squire Law Library. It was housed in the university's "Old Schools" near the Senate House until it outgrew the space there and a new library in the west of Cambridge was built. The large site on the western edge of Cambridge city centre is now between Robinson College and Memorial Court, Clare College. The current librarian is Peter Fox.
Architecture
The library was built 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. Its 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. 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. There are over 5.5 million books and pamphlets in the library, more than 1.2 million periodicals, many maps, manuscripts, and specialist [collections] including that of the Royal Commonwealth Society.Legal deposit library
As a legal deposit library, it is entitled to claim without charge a copy of all books, journals, printed maps and music published in Britain and Ireland. The library is open to all members of the University of Cambridge (although undergraduates in their first two years and University Assistants cannot borrow any books). 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 can apply for access with an academical letter of introduction and on payment of a fee. 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 final-year undergraduates) to borrow from its collection. The library is mainly used for research and reference, as the Cambridge colleges and departments have their own libraries for use by undergraduates. 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.Special collections
As part of its collection of more than 7,000,000 volumes, the library contains a wealth of printed and manuscript material from down the centuries. These include:
- 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 ship-building, 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. 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," actually a very 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.
- E.G. Browne's collection of around 480 codices in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish.
- 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.
\"Fun\" at the University Library
Most students refer to the University Library colloquially as the "UL." On several occasions, less respectful names have been used, with several students and articles appearing in student newspapers claiming that the main building resembles a phallus. Many have also noted a resemblance to Orwell's "Ministry of Love," taken from the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
For many years the "UL paper trail" was an unofficial, secretive game played by library users. A cryptic clue tucked in a library book leads to another book, inside which is another clue, and so on; those who reached the end of the trail were duty-bound to add a new clue. Some clues are believed still to exist as of 2006.
Old graffiti, recently removed during the renovation of the men's toilets near the main entrance, referred interested readers to an obsolete encyclopedia of anatomy, the flysheets of which had been used by students to arrange sexual assignations.
Several triangular signs lie about the tables of the library with the words "Marking of books is forbidden." These, especially the underside, have become filled with writing, much of it highly amusing. One contains a list of the dates when readers have looked under it, with the viewer being asked to add their date to the list which stretches back into the 1980s.
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.