Cambridge University Library

The Catalogues

The University Library has a variety of catalogues for its holdings of books, serials, microfilms, theses, maps, music, and other materials. This is a guide to where to look for different kinds of material.

Printed Books

Printed books are variously covered by the online catalogues and the old supplementary catalogues. All books published after 1977 will be found in the Online Catalogue; books of secondary academic importance published before 1978 may only be found in the supplementary catalogues.

Online Catalogue (Newton)

Newton, the Online Catalogue, can be consulted on terminals in the Catalogue Room and elsewhere, as well as remotely from computers connected to the Internet. It is comprehensive for books (excluding most Official Publications) published after 1977, for music catalogued since 1990, and for maps catalogued since August 2000. Records will now also be found for all books which are represented by entries in the pre-1978 General Catalogue. Records will also be found for increasing numbers of monographs published by government and intergovernmental bodies.

If you cannot find a pre-1978 book in the catalogue, consider whether it may have been thought to be of secondary academic interest, in which case you will need to consult the supplementary catalogues.

Old Catalogues

The Pre-1978 General Catalogue (the green volumes in the Catalogue Room) covers books printed before 1978 which were thought at the time of cataloguing to be of scholarly interest. Records for the books catalogued in it will now also be found in the Online Catalogue, which is the primary source of catalogue information. No revision to the pre-1978 General Catalogue has taken place since March 2006.

The Supplementary Catalogues (a sheaf catalogue for 1800-1905, and a card index for 1906-1977) cover books which, at the time of cataloguing, were thought to be of secondary interest to scholarship. These catalogues stand in the Reading Room Corridor South.

Other Materials and Special Collections

Audio-Visual Materials (tapes, films, etc.) published after 1977 are included in the Online Catalogue. Materials published before 1978 which are not integral parts of works included in the online or old catalogues are catalogued on a card index in the Microfilm Reading Room.

Bibles. Bibles in the Online Catalogue include (at September 2006) around 90% of the collection of the Bible Society (formerly British and Foreign Bible Society). This collection is also catalogued by language and date of publication in a guardbook catalogue in the Bradshaw Room. Work is in progress to add the remaining 10%, which are mainly in Arabic and Chinese character. These will be described in English in the first instance, as is already the case with many of the Indian languages and with Japanese.

Early English Books (1475-1800) not found in the online or old catalogues are often to be found in the microfilm collections of the Rare Books Room. The easiest way to find classmarks to STC, Wing, Thomason and Eighteenth Century STC microfilm series is the online ESTC, which is available from all networked PCs in the Library.

Incunabula (books printed in Europe before 1501) are listed and indexed in a published catalogue available for consultation in the Rare Books Room. Incunabula do not for the most part appear in the general catalogues for printed books.

Manuscripts and the University Archives are catalogued on card and slip indexes and typed lists found in the Manuscripts Room, which also holds published catalogues to the Western Manuscripts and certain other collections. Collection-level records for a majority of the Library's manuscripts are included in the Online Catalogue, with a growing number of lower-level descriptions. Select the University Library Manuscripts and Theses option.

Online finding aids for an increasing proportion of the University Archives are accessible via the Janus portal, http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk.

Maps and atlases All maps catalogued since August 2000 and most atlases catalogued since 1977 are included in the Online Catalogue, as are some post-1850 materials catalogued as part of a retrospective conversion project. However, catalogue entries for all other maps and atlases will be found only in the card catalogue located in the Map Room.

More information can be found at http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/maps/catalogues.html. Help on searching Newton for maps and atlases can be found at http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/maps/newton.html.

Microfilms and Microfiches are usually catalogued in either the Online Catalogue or the Pre-1978 General Catalogue. But some major microfilm series (e.g. French political pamphlets; Latin American documents) are catalogued on card indexes which stand in the Microform Reading Room. For Early English Books on microfilm, see above.

Music. Sheet music and recorded music catalogued since 1990 are included in the Online Catalogue. Music catalogued before 1990 is catalogued on card indexes and a sheaf catalogue in the Anderson Room.

For music manuscripts, select the University Library Manuscripts and Theses option.

Official Publications of governments and inter-governmental organisations published before 1999 are catalogued by subject only on a card index in the Commonwealth Room, where an Outline Guide to the more important serials and archival publications is available for consultation. Only a small proportion of older official publications are covered in the catalogues of periodicals and printed books, but monographs published 1999 onwards are now being catalogued in Newton.

Oriental Languages. Card catalogues of books in Chinese, Japanese and Korean are found in the East Asian Reading Room in the Aoi Pavilion. Romanised entries for Chinese and Japanese books, with links to full vernacular script records where available, can also be found in the Online Calalogue. Chinese books received after June 2002 and Japanese books received after December 1993 are to be found only in the Online Catalogue. Books in other oriental languages are included in the Online Catalogue and the Pre-1978 General Catalogue.

Pamphlets. Some English and foreign pamphlets, and certain unbound works (foreign novels, etc.) published between 1800 and ca. 1960 are catalogued on a card index which stands in the Reading Room Corridor South.

Periodicals and journals are included in the Online Catalogue. The ability to limit a search so that it finds only periodicals and journals is provided.

Some older directories, guidebooks, annual reports of an administrative nature and looseleaf partworks are found only in the Supplementary Catalogue of Secondary Periodicals, a card index which stands in the Reading Room Corridor South, if at the time of first receipt they were considered of secondary academic importance.

Royal Commonwealth Society Library. This collection of Commonwealth materials, now housed in the University Library, is catalogued by country and subject on a card index in the Munby Rare Books Room. Large parts of the collection are also catalogued online, published items in Newton, and manuscript and photograph archives on Janus.  For more information, please see:  http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/rcs/catalogues.html

Special collections. Certain special collections (e.g. of almanacs to 1800, broadside ballads, chap-books) are catalogued on card indexes - please enquire in the Munby Rare Books Room.

Theses. Cambridge theses approved since 1970 are listed in the Online Catalogue (which is being extended to cover earlier theses). Select the University Library Manuscripts and Theses option. The Manuscripts Room also holds a card index for all Cambridge theses approved before 1995. A selective catalogue of foreign theses up to ca. 1970 but not included in the old catalogues stands in the Reading Room Corridor South.

Readers who need help in using the catalogues should enquire at the staff desk in the Reading Room.