Where can I consult RCS collections?
May I borrow items from the collection?
How do I request material?
Further assistance
Where can I consult RCS collections?
Official publications within the RCS collections should be requested and consulted in the Special Collections Reading Room. Over 32,500 such publications may now be located via our online catalogue. To learn which geographical regions have been catalogued, and how best to search for official publications, please see our project website.
Please continue to use the RCS card catalogue to obtain information which cannot yet be found online. The Library’s own Official Publications collection also contains significant runs of colonial and Commonwealth titles, which complement the RCS collection.
Books, pamphlets and periodicals within the RCS collections should also be requested and consulted in the Special Collections Reading Room, where the RCS card catalogue is located. Many categories of published material may now be searched online.
RCS manuscript, photographic and archival collections should be requested and consulted in the Special Collections Reading Room. Approximately two-thirds of them may now be searched online via ArchiveSearch.
Maps from the RCS Library, not already held by Cambridge University Library, were incorporated into the University Library's own map collection and should, therefore, be requested in the Map Room.
May I borrow items from the collection?
Items in the RCS collections may not be borrowed. Please note that in the case of published material, there may be another copy in the Library that could be borrowed.
How do I request material?
It is helpful to request material in advance via email (specialcollections@lib.cam.ac.uk or maps@lib.cam.ac.uk for maps). It is also possible to order material on the day in the relevant reading room. Published material that is now catalogued online can be searched and requested via the library catalogue, iDiscover. When emailing, please include as much information as possible, including classmark, author, full title, date of publication and number of pages. Most items do not have unique classmarks, so the more information given, the quicker it well be to locate them. Material will be fetched as quickly as possible and brought directly to the reader.
Further assistance
Please address enquiries about RCS holdings to the RCS Curator, Cambridge University Library, West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DR or email: rcs@lib.cam.ac.uk.