Cambridge University Library

Map Department

NEW: Self-Service Photography in the Map Room. ---- NEW: Quick Guide to the Map Room

Within the University Library cartographic materials can be found in several Library Departments - Rare Books, Manuscripts, Official Publications, the East Asian collections - but the main concentration is located in the Map Department.

The Map Department contains some 1,100,000 maps, both British and foreign, several thousand atlases and other ancillary material. The average annual intake is about 30,000 items and over the years the accumulation of variant editions recording the changing landscape has become a particularly valuable feature of the collection. The Legal Deposit Libraries Act, which entitles the Library to claim a copy of every new British publication, applies to maps as well as to printed books.

The following classes are contained in the Map Department: Atlas; Maps; Views; MS Plans (for manuscript maps) and S696 (for gazetteers and books on cartography).

For more detailed information about the materials held in the Map Department see our Collections page.

Map Department items must be requested and consulted in the Map Room - the Map Department Reading Room. You must show your Reader’s Card or University Card when submitting order forms.

Bring a pencil with you! The Map Room is a pencil-only reading room.

Further information on the Map Room can be found on our Services page.

A printable summary of Map Department collections and services can be found in the following Word document: Map Department - General Introduction.