CAMThis idea must die: “Libraries are just about books”
Dr Jessica Gardner, University Librarian and Director of Library Services at Cambridge University Libraries, says people are at the heart of the library evolution.
What is a library? Rows and rows of books, right? Perhaps with some digital artefacts? But actually, libraries are about people. Our role at the UL is to facilitate the astonishing learning, teaching and research that takes place here at Cambridge – we aspire to be the emotional and intellectual heart of the University.
For that we need books, of course. The UL has been one of the UK’s legal deposit libraries since 1710. That means we contain one copy of every book published in the UK and Ireland. But we also need so much more. When we reopened after lockdown, one student told me that “being in the library is doing university” and I loved that.
It is reflective of the scholarly tradition associated with a university library like Cambridge, but also a reminder that we are here for our students, for our academics and for the broader community.
We meet a range of needs because we are about people, connecting ideas to create new knowledge that we then share through the academic and social infrastructure
Our library is an intrinsic part of the in-person experience at Cambridge. We see our students throughout that academic season, from their first steps in becoming a Cambridge student to their final exams and beyond. And they need a whole range of spaces throughout that period of study.
There are times when they want to sit informally and socially to share ideas, so we offer places for group study. But we also offer places that are quiet and free of distraction. We meet all those needs because we are about people, connecting ideas to create new knowledge that we then share through the academic and social infrastructure. And we have an important role as a civic centre.
A third of our users are from the city, and we host exhibitions and public events, including the Really Popular Book Club where we celebrate books like The Da Vinci Code with both casual readers and experts in medieval manuscripts. We started that online during the pandemic and it is so popular we have continued it ever since.
We still receive phenomenal quantities of books – three kilometres of them every year – but that volume is outnumbered by the millions of books and articles in digital formats. A huge part of our work is now about digital preservation. We have a wonderful conservation studio that knows exactly what do with velum, parchment, bone, papyrus and paper, but digital conservation is just as essential. We have a forensic digital lab for things like floppy discs to ensure that information remains accessible as formats change.
We are also the archive for all Cambridge PhDs and research by great minds who changed the world – the likes of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking.
When we put Hawking’s PhD online a few years ago it almost broke the internet.
We also engage in research ourselves, and continue to collect new archives. Recently we acquired the Poems on the Underground archive, as well as that of the 80s political satire Spitting Image. During Covid, we collected people’s contemporary accounts of the pandemic – these will be essential evidence for future historians, sociologists and psychologists. Libraries are spaces where you have no obligation to buy anything (although I do love a snack and a coffee in the tearoom). You can pick up a book or turn on the laptop and be free to think – with no constraints.
That is the absolute embodiment of academic freedom of thought and expression. You might encounter ideas that challenge, excite or upset you and you have the space to think about those ideas freely. It was through my love of books as a child that I realised libraries were the route to knowledge, and we now provide access to the widest possible perspectives to teach critical appraisal of the ideas our students encounter. So books, yes, but not just books.
We want our students to have the skills to navigate this age of disinformation with no restrictions from ourselves – and we want them to feel free to challenge our own ways of thinking – after all, libraries show the possibility of a life beyond our own circumstances.
Alumni can still access the University Library after leaving Cambridge; visit https://www.alumni.cam.ac.uk/benefits/university-library to find out more. To discuss how you can support the University Library, get in touch with Amy Reeve, Senior Associate Director at amy.reeve@admin.cam.ac.uk
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