Our libraries: transforming

Foreword by Dr Jessica Gardner, Cambridge University Librarian

It’s been another challenging year, to say the least. But I’m proud to reflect how our libraries in Cambridge – and across the world – have been a beacon of light and hope for so many of us throughout the period covered in this annual review. 

Although we are still living with uncertainty, there are so many reasons that Cambridge University Libraries staff can take heart from their incredible efforts and endeavours made to keep students learning, lecturers lecturing and researchers researching. And for doing so while keeping the rest of us inspired with their ingenuity, problem-solving and tireless attitudes to the many complex and shifting challenges we have all had to deal with... sometimes on a daily or hourly basis. 

As you'll see in the various clickable chapters (above) of this fully digital Annual Report, there are many reasons to be optimistic, even while we grapple with the continued need for care, caution and communication, and the desire to reforge our sense of inclusion and belonging as a library community.  

But looking back and looking ahead, this period has also given us an opportunity to reflect more profoundly about what it means to be a 21st century library - and how our libraries have and will transform beyond the pandemic. 

Without question we need to keep accelerating the shift to digital. We must redouble our efforts to share our incredible collections, knowledge and expertise with students, researchers and the public, not just on our doorstep but worldwide to help create more equitable access to information and research materials. It is only right that we attempt to face these global challenges around access and discovery of information with the same spirit and conviction with which we responded so brilliantly to the pandemic.  
 
It's clear to me that the new 'normal' for library services has to be more digital than before, with more hybrid working for library users and library staff. We must expand and enhance our digital tools and services so that they and we are fit-for-purpose for our local and global community of readers, researchers and other users. 
 
We must also do this without losing sight of the way our physical libraries, especially in research-intensive universities like ours, build communities in a very real sense. Libraries are places where conversations happen, ideas are exchanged and can be the epicentre of change that is often felt around the world. Libraries are an essential space for learning communities, local and global. The modern library has to be a place of both trust and innovation in equal measure. 
 
In our Annual Report, I hope you'll get a real sense of the immense contributions our libraries make. As these stories show, our libraries have many different guises: as venues for cutting-edge research and equipment, as learning community spaces for our students, and as places for engagement and knowledge sharing with a wider public - from local history societies to the many individuals who generously shared their photos, films and artworks to capture life in this city during a pandemic.  
 
You'll also read about the touching public support for our quest to find the missing Darwin Notebooks and the profound honour we felt around our acquisition of the archive of Professor Stephen Hawking. You'll read how our Friends of the Library and our donors have enabled us to bolster our collections of not only rare books, manuscripts and archives, but also with the wonderful Caroline Walker painting of female researchers in the lab - first featured in our most popular exhibition to date - The Rising Tide: Women at Cambridge. 

I'm also so pleased to see our vital and growing work around accessibility captured in this report. More than ever, we need to take tangible action to improve not just accessibility, but race equality, mental health and inclusion. Our goal is to create a sense of belonging for all. 

As I said last year, so I'll say again ... a simple but enormous thank you to everyone whose hard work and dedication through testing circumstances have kept our libraries open and accessible - physically or electronically. And thank you to our wonderful community of readers, researchers and those who simply delight in roaming our collections online or in-person. 

Like you all, I love libraries, and love being part of an inspiring community of scholarship and learning that frames all we do.  
 
Happy reading! 

A treasure trove of archive papers and personal objects – from Stephen Hawking's seminal works on theoretical physics to scripts from episodes of The Simpsons has been divided between two of the UK’s leading cultural institutions following a landmark Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) agreement on behalf of the nation.

The announcement in March 2021 made headlines across the world with more than 1,000 pieces of coverage from all corners of the globe.

The AIL agreement between HMRC, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Cambridge University Library, Science Museum Group, and the Hawking Estate, saw around 10,000 pages of Hawking’s scientific and other papers remain in Cambridge, while objects including his wheelchairs, speech synthesisers, and personal memorabilia from his former Cambridge office are now housed at the Science Museum.

The acquisition means University Library is now home to three of the most important scientific archives of all time – those of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking. In 2018, Professor Hawking's ashes were buried between the graves of Newton and Darwin at Westminster Abbey.

Under the terms of the historic agreement, Professor Hawking’s extensive Cambridge archive will be cared for and made available to current and future generations of scientists hoping to continue his ground-breaking work in theoretical physics, and will provide future biographers and science historians with an extraordinary gateway and insight into Hawking’s life and work.  

Cambridge University Library is already home to manuscripts, books and theses from some of the most famous scientists, mathematicians and astronomers in history, including James Clerk Maxwell, JJ Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Dorothy Hodgkin (nee Crowfoot). 

The UL also safeguards the archives of John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, and his 19th century successor George Airy.

The University of Cambridge has launched a major fundraising drive to complete the painstaking work of conserving and cataloguing the archive, and to ensure that members of the public are given an opportunity to engage with the archive through a programme of exhibitions, events and digitisation in the Cambridge Digital Library. 

To find out how you can help, visit The Stephen Hawking Programme.
For updates on the archive, including events and opportunities to get involved, please sign up to our newsletter.

With thanks to the Hawking family and Hawking Estate.

Cambridge University Library joins Google Arts and Culture

Audiences across the globe can now explore some of the treasures of Cambridge University Library on the Google Arts and Culture platform.

The UL became the first institution of the University of Cambridge to partner with Google on the platform in August 2020, and joins organisations such as the British Museum, Rijksmuseum and the White House, among many others, who share their collections freely, and openly, with the world.

The UL is one of the oldest university libraries in the English-speaking world, and is home to nearly ten million books, maps, manuscripts and curious objects spanning more than 4,000 years of human history, in more than 2,000 languages.

Allowing users to zoom in on objects in great detail, the images and ‘stories’ reveal the fascinating narratives behind unique objects such as the earliest Chinese book printed using the technique of douban, a printing method using different colours of ink applied to woodcut blocks, or Sir Isaac Newton’s undergraduate notebooks from his time at Trinity College, Cambridge.

The partnership with Google Arts and Culture complements the availability of more than 50,000 objects already digitised and made freely available on the Cambridge Digital Library, which has recorded more than 20 million object views since its launch in 2011.

Cambridge University Librarian Dr Jessica Gardner said: “Cambridge University Library is home to thousands of years of human history and is one of the world’s great research collections, drawing visitors, writers, academics and researchers from all over the world to engage with our unique collections.

“From ancient historical records carved into clay, to beautifully illuminated and illustrated medieval manuscripts, to works illuminating the human body or the night sky above us, we are so pleased to begin sharing our collections on Google Arts and Culture.

“One of our driving principles is to freely and openly share our world-class collections with the world. With fewer people able to travel at the moment, our partnership with Google is a perfect example of bringing the Library to enquiring minds across the globe, joining some of the world’s biggest and best-loved cultural institutions already on the platform."

Google Arts and Culture is a free online platform launched in 2011 through the Google Cultural Institute initiative. With six million objects to explore, the digital platform utilises high-resolution image technology and enables users to virtually tour partner institutions’ galleries, explore physical and contextual information about artworks, and compile their own virtual collection.

There are 4,000 disabled students at the University of Cambridge.  

Our libraries are committed to providing equal access to our services and resources for all students, working closely with partners including the University’s Disability Resource Centre, publishers, and the RNIB’s Bookshare service. 

This year we have enriched the resources we have to support disabled students.

In November 2020, we established the Libraries Accessibility Service. We welcomed two roles dedicated to developing our existing accessibility services and extending our provision of alternative ways to access library resources. 

Printed books are inaccessible to many disabled students, for reasons that include visual impairment, neurodiversity and physical disability. Some students rely on electronic formats together with assistive technology which recognises and reads out text, magnifies it or converts it to refreshable braille. 

The Libraries Accessibility Service facilitates access to compatible non-print material by creating or obtaining electronic versions of books in our libraries, under the copyright exception for disabled students.  

For some students, we also carry out detailed work on digital texts, to make sure aspects such as the data in tables can be accessed and interpreted meaningfully by their assistive technology.

With older publications, the Libraries Accessibility Service works with the in-house Scan & Deliver team to digitize physical books, improve the accuracy of the text recognition and overcome problems such as illegible fonts and marginalia which decrease the accessibility of the text. 

The facility to scan material quickly is especially helpful for students and researchers using older publications for which ‘born digital’ versions do not exist.

Between August 2021 and July 2021, the Scan & Deliver services scanned 54,966 pages at the request of disabled users.

Crucially, the Libraries Accessibility Service is raising the visibility of the support available to disabled students. By building strong connections with the Disability Resource Centre and the Disabled Students Campaign, and publishing a guide to library accessibility services for students, we are reaching out to the 4,000 students who could benefit from our service.

The service also supports Cambridge library staff in developing and delivering services that are as accessible and inclusive as possible through resources such as the accessibility and inclusivity toolkit.

Following a busy and successful first full year, the service now has a great opportunity to focus on pushing forward inclusive policy and practice, while continuing to sustainably build on day-to-day work supporting students.