The Laboratory houses a specialist library, which was started soon after the Laboratory's foundation in 1937, and therefore has material from the early days of digital computing right up to the present time. The collection currently includes about 4,500 books (including conference proceedings and theses), 100 current periodical titles, and 14,000 technical reports. There is also a reference section and course books from the current undergraduate reading lists.

There are a range of electronic books available which you may find helpful if you are unable to visit the library in person. These will usually cover the most popular items on your reading list. For help with finding and using electronic books, please see the e-books@cambridge guide.

Alternatively, there is a short video induction available:

Undergraduate collection

The undergraduate collection normally houses at least two copies of each title on the undergraduate reading lists. To ensure these books are kept available for those wishing to study, they may only be borrowed for three days at a time.

Monographs

The main collection of monographs is entered on the Newton catalogue, and are arranged on the shelves according to the ACM Computing classification scheme. They may be borrowed by current staff and students in the Computer Laboratory.

Conference proceedings

The collections include a number of proceedings volumes from major conferences. These are either shelved with the monographs, or in the case of large format volumes, in the oversize sequence. In any case they can be found on the catalogue and borrowed in the normal way.

Journals

The printed journals are shelved in alphabetical order towards the back of the library, behind the classified sequence of monographs. The catalogue only holds title details for an entire journal, not for individual articles. You may not borrow the journals, but you can make photocopies.

Archives

The archives house a range of historical material. In most cases the catalogue only has brief title details, so please consult the librarian if you wish to look at this material.