With over a hundred libraries, each with their own personality and differences, the landscape of Cambridge libraries can be confusing at times for students to navigate, but also creates diverse opportunities for learning and engagement. From the home-base of their College library to the subject-specific focus of their Faculty or Department library, to the vast scope of the University Library, there is a library for everyone.

This section briefly introduces the different types of Cambridge library and how they work, as well as looking at how students use libraries. 

The information in this section can be shared to help school students who are considering applying to Cambridge to understand how the different types of Cambridge libraries work, and how students make use of them. Cambridge libraries are complex and unique, and may be very different from any library a school student has encountered so far. Knowing more about them can help to build confidence in using Cambridge libraries as part of school visits. 

For SLOs: 

If you have any questions about the Cambridge libraries landscape, or would like to know more about how Cambridge students use different libraries, please contact us for more information.

For Teachers:

If you would like to know more about supporting school students who are considering applying to Cambridge, please contact your Schools Liaison Officer in the first instance. All SLOs cover a targeted Link Area in the UK, so each area has a particular SLO to contact. 

Look up your Link Area and SLO on the College Area Links website. 

See below for a short video featuring Cambridge students discussing how they use libraries in their studies.

Using the University's Libraries Transcript