The story
History
The first library
By the middle of the 14th century, the University of Cambridge owned a collection of 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 university 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." In the second decade of the 15th century, the library found a home on the newly built Old Schools site.
The earliest catalogue is dated c. 1424, at which time there were 122 volumes in the library. The second earliest surviving catalogue was drawn up in 1473, and records 330 volumes. During the English Reformation, while there does not seem to be evidence of widespread destruction of books, as there was at Oxford, some books were certainly destroyed, and there were very few donations. King's College received only one bequest between 1528 and 1568. From the 16th century, the library received generous donations or bequests of books and growth was considerably increased once the privilege of legal deposit had been granted. In 1648 the House of Commons ordered funds for the library.
The library's space was greatly extended with the building of the Cockerell Building on Senate House Passage in 1837–42.
The new library
Following an initiative by A. F. Scholfield (librarian from 1923 to 1949), it was decided to build a larger facility. The site selected comprised the 8 acres (3.2 ha) joint cricket field of King's and Clare Colleges. During the First World War, a large part of the site had been requisitioned by the War Office to create the 1st Eastern General Hospital, a facility for the Royal Army Medical Corps to treat military casualties. The hospital had 1,700 beds at its height and treated some 70,000 casualties between 1914 and 1919.
The new University Library building was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, who also designed the neighbouring Clare Memorial Court (part of Clare College). It was constructed between 1931 and 1934. It is a Grade II listed building. Inside are a number of 17th- and 18th-century bookcases including those designed for the old University Library by James Essex in 1731–34. The funds for the new library were raised by colleges and from private donors. The American philanthropist John D. Rockefeller provided the largest part of the funds for the library's construction. Sensing that it needed a grander entrance, Rockefeller persuaded the architect to add the distinctive front-facing tower. The tower can be seen for several miles around Cambridge. The bronze main entrance and the aluminium bronze screens to the reading room were made by H. H. Martyn & Co.
The building bears a resemblance to Scott's industrial architecture, including Bankside Power Station (now Tate Modern). The library tower stands 157 feet (48 m) tall, 6 feet (1.8 m) shorter than the top of St John's College Chapel and 10 feet (3.0 m) taller than the peak of King's College Chapel.
The library has been extended several times through ground annexes and underground extensions which allowed for new legal deposit documents to be stored. The main building houses the Japanese and Chinese collections in the Aoi Pavilion, an extension donated by Tadao Aoi and opened in 1998.
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The University Library has also built a large storage facility in Ely which has more than 100 kilometres of shelving for future legal deposit books and periodicals. Work on a £17.1 million off-site facility to house the growing collection finished in 2018 and provides Cambridge University with one of the largest library storage buildings in the world.
In June 2022 a repurposed K6 telephone box was installed at the entrance for returning books to the Library.
Historical Printing Room
In addition to archives for some major figures in the history of typography and printing (Stanley Morison, Frances Meynell, etc), the Library hosts the Historical Printing Room.
In the early 1970s, Philip Gaskell, then librarian of Trinity College, set up a bibliographical teaching press similar to those at the Bodleian, University College London, and other institutions. The idea was to permit students to experience the historical process of letterpress printing themselves so they could better understand early book structure and the activities necessary to produce books. Classes began in 1974 and have continued to the present day.
Equipment in the HPR include Philip Gaskell's own Albion iron hand press, a small etching press, paper moulds made for William Morris, and other equipment donated or loaned by Cambridge University Press. A Common Press, constructed by the University's Engineering Department to Gaskell's specifications, is still used for demonstrations and printing. Research at the HPR is supported by significant archives at the CUL, including the Broxbourne collection of type specimens, the Chapbooks collection, and extensive archives of eminent printers.
From Wikipedia’s article on Cambridge University Library, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3