Introduction
The West Room, located on the first floor, is reserved for readers of post-1899 unbound books and newspapers and post-1850 periodicals as well as certain other classes of modern though rare, fragile or valuable items.
The room contains:
- Current issues of academic periodicals, arranged by subject, in pigeon-holes A-Z
- The latter part of the main reference collection (class R854.E61-R952, bays 10-107) including general encyclopaedias (R900, bays 57-86 ), general periodicals (R904, bays 86-91, general indexes to periodicals (R907, bays 92-102), indexes to book reviews in periodicals (R908, bays 102-106) and the last ten years of the Cambridge University Tripos Papers (R952, bays 106-107)
- Some frequently used reference periodicals and directories (north wall)
- A small collection of reference books, mainly language dictionaries (bay 30)
- Indexes to newspapers (class NPR.D, north wall and bays 1-6)
- A small collection of reference books, mainly language dictionaries (bay 30)
As a constituent part of the Reference Department, staff in the West Room are responsible for the delivery of the University Library’s service to its users both in person and remotely.
Books and periodicals may not be removed from the West Room without permission.