Cambridge University Library
Cambridge’s University Library (the UL) is one of six legal deposit libraries in the UK, which means that a copy of every single book that is published must be sent there. As a result, the UL has a huge collection of books and receives about 100,000 books every year.
Fun fact: the metal books in each of the pillars in front of the UL can be rotated! (The building in the back of this photo is actually a college, not the UL).
Inside the library, there was an exhibition called Discarded History: The Genizah of Medieval Cairo. Jewish communities would put worn out writings in synagogue storage rooms called genizahs, as they were not allowed to discard any texts that mentioned the name of God prior to proper cemetery burial. As a result, these papers include not only religious texts but also texts about education, marriage, and personal affairs. In one writing, there was even a stick-figure drawing!
Each college actually has its own library, so students might choose to study in their own college library, the UL, or their department library. I personally prefer studying in my own room, so I never studied in the UL or my college library, but I have worked in my department library. The Engineering library has two areas, a silent space and a collaborative space. In the collaborative space, there are sofas and puzzles for de-stressing. Since it’s a collaborative area and people are talking, it can get kind of loud, which can be distracting, but it is a nice place for working on examples papers (sets) together.
