(11) The Classics Library

Due to taking a Late Antiquity paper in my first year, the Classics library is one of the few that I had already been to before I began my library hopping. However, it's conveniently located on the edge of the Sidgwick site and it's seemed like a good idea to return to it with a new perspective.

Quite a classy sign

Is that person pointing to the library?

Upon entering, I was immediately confronted by a couple of statues of naked men, which, I must admit, is fairly novel and certainly gets one into the 'classical' frame of mind. Beyond the naked men, the library is a very long room, neatly laid out with tables on either side and bookshelves in the middle.

Not your usual library decoration

Ironically, given that I was in the classics library, I was reading books discussing issues of modernity and using phrases such as 'transcend the historical obliqueness of these constructed dichotomies'. This was around the point that my mind stopped working and I started to have a good look round. 

Cute little wooden block lamp

All the bookshelves run down the centre of the room, with clear labeling on the end of each, making it very easy to find whatever you're looking for.

Lots of fairly standard bookshelves

Down both sides of the room are six-person tables. Each seat has it's own block-of-wood-lamp with an individual switch, which is a nice touch.

To add to the organisation of the place, each table is numbered, presumably this makes it easier to remember where you left your books. It also means that I can state with some certainty that there were 23 tables, and a quick calculation tells me that gives the library a full capacity of 138. This seems pretty decent for a course with around 80 in a year.

Many classicists, much work being done

Well organised layout, lots of space, comfy chairs, and bookshelves full of identically jacketed old-looking books - the Classics library certainly has a lot going for it.  

If the sight of this bookshelf doesn't fill you with joy, I don't want to know you 

(10) The Casimir Lewy Library (Philosophy)

Having realised that I needed to up my library visitation rate if I want to get around even half of the faculty libraries, my Friday morning was spent in the Casimir Lewy library.

More wacky Sidgwick Site architecture

The library is inside a building on stilts, presumably because an architect thought that it seemed like a good idea at the time, or perhaps as a preventative measure for when East Anglia is flooded by global warming/sea levels rising or something.

I was signed up for borrowing rights by a friendly librarian who took pride in telling me how much better the philosophy library loan system was than the Seeley. Books can be taken out for a week, and fined 40p per item per day, which certainly seems reasonable. 

Not the most impressive door

The library itself is very small. There are a few tables around the edge and a couple of desks with walls in the middle. Unlike the Divinity Faculty, these are quite high thus avoiding awkward library eye contact.

Work space bubble

It was quite busy given its size. By quarter to twelve, there was someone working at every table. Philosophers are perhaps more studious than other subjects give them credit for. 

The view down the whole length of the library

It was bright and airy, although this might have been partly to do with the sunny weather. Nevertheless, combined with the small size, this gave the Casimir Lewy library a friendly and pleasant atmosphere.

...and the width

Excitingly enough, I was the first person to take out this book

(9) The Haddon Library (Arch and Anth)

I took advantage of a cancelled lecture to sneak 3 hours of library time into my day.

In my third library away from the Sidgwick site, I am, once again, sticking with relatively 'safe' arts type subjects. The Haddon Library serves the Archaeology and Anthropology course (now known as HSPS) and has a convenient number of books about women in the Middle East.

I imagine this would look better without the scaffolding

Scary door

Just in case you get lost

After ascending an imposing stone staircase and registering for borrowing rights (didn't even have to fill in a paper form here - pretty decent) I was immediately impressed by the library itself. Whilst the actual floor space was probably quite small, the ceiling was very high and the book shelves were made of solid wood. There were balconies are each end with a selection of old books, adding to the 'traditional library' feel.

Solid effort

A mere 8 pages into my book I very nearly fell asleep. It seems that three 5am starts in row, a warm room and an abstract discussion on poststructuralist criticisms of modernity do that to a person. 

Whilst there were some very large windows, the miserable weather made it gloomy anyway, but I don't think it would be fair to blame the Haddon Library for this.

Windows so high that my phone can't handle them

Nice arches

It was reasonably warm in there, not overwhelmingly so as in the FAMES library, but warm enough that I wasn't tempted to put by coat back on (as I have experience in the Seeley once or twice)

A very old, but still relevant note

The bookcases are huge too

Overall, a traditional library with comfy chairs, large desks and massive bookshelves. A nice place to work (if you can keep yourself awake, which I sadly couldn't)

(8) The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Library

I've been working in Caius library for most of last week, partly due to commitments that meant I couldn't get to any interesting faculty libraries within their opening hours (namely training, classes, lectures, lunch and laundry)

However, today I found myself in the slightly uncomfortable situation of having an impending essay deadline and not much of an essay, so clearly it was time to ensconce myself in a (relatively) distraction-free library while trying to make sense of the pages of notes that I had accumulated over the last week.

I got to the library at 9:05. It's a small, nondescript block at the edge of the Sidgwick site.

Little bit boring

This is pretty cool

The usual combination of friendly and inviting signs. 

There's an interesting layout, with a rectangular central well in the middle surrounded by bookshelves, classified according to which area of the Middle East or Asia they refer to. 

Again? Why can't I just keep my large coat with me? 

By 11, I had reached the psychologically important halfway marker of 1250 words - always a good sign - so I took a little break and went for a stroll round the library with my totally-not-obvious phone.

All by myself

A major point about this library is that it's very warm. After my experiences with loss of circulation in the Whipple Library, this is initially a welcome discovery. After one hour of frantic typing, it's not so much. It feels stuffy more than anything. It didn't help that I started feeling hungry from approximately 10:40 onwards. I know that feeling ill from hunger is a thing - but less than three hours after a big bowl of porridge with a banana and an apple?

Nice little secluded table 

There were a few other people there, but not that many. In the central well there were five tables of eight seats, of which only two seats were taken the entire morning. I don't even want to consider how horribly stuffy it would get if it was at full capacity. It did start to fill up from midday onwards, presumably as lectures finished and/or people got out of bed.

Pretty standard bookshelves

I spent quite a lot of time blankly flipping through my notes, contemplating the nature of modern day international relations, wondering if Britain ought to be paying the rest of the world compensation, wondering if we ought to interpret foreign aid as our way of saying 'sorry', thinking about Zionism, Hamas and the role of religion... and then realising that none of these bore any direct relevance to the essay question that I was trying to answer. 

Looking across the well

All in all, I'm a big fan of the AMES library. It may be the worst course in Cambridge (according to the National Student Survey) but their library has a nice layout, plenty of desks to chose from, comfy chairs and the odd pot plant to make you feel at home. A hidden gem of the Sidgwick site, if only they'd turn the heating down a tad...

(7) The Marshall Library of Economics

The main thing about the Economics library is that it's quite boring. On a site full of eccentricities such as the History Faculty, or modern state-of-the-art like structures as the Law Faculty, the standout feature of this library is that it doesn't have a standout feature, perhaps other than an inventive library bin outside.

At least it looks nice in the sun

Bit dull

A bin for your library books. Thoughtful.

When I first got to the library it was really rather busy. I found myself a seat near a window at the back of the first floor. It seems that economists are a hard working lot - although I was surprised when, at 3 o'clock, the girl working opposite me shut her laptop, closed her books and proceeded to have a 20 minute nap on the desk. It was a Friday afternoon.

There's even a display cabinet about book defacement

It was a surprisingly large library, with two main floors for working on and what appeared to be a large amount of extra storage space ('staff only' unfortunately, so I couldn't explore). 

Look at all that beautiful concrete

There was a good amount of sunlight coming through, even though all the windows had blinds, but this made for a comforting, warm atmosphere - not something you can always get in a library.

Getting late

Yet another view 

These were the kind of books that I expected to be reading when I applied for a history degree. 

(6) Whipple Library (History and Philosophy of Science)

Today's library of choice is the Whipple Library, which sounds like a kind of ice cream. It's located along Free School Lane, behind some imposing wooden doors that falsely claim that it's the laboratory of physical chemistry. This is about as close as I've been to a lab in the two years and four months I've been at Cambridge.

What is this thing called Science?

After making my way through a maze-like series of staircases going up, down, left and right. I finally found the library itself.

Maybe it's just around this corner?

Are we nearly there yet?

The Whipple library also operates a system of leaving bags behind when you enter the library, only they provide lockers rather than the inadequate shelving space of the divinity faculty library.

Sensible 

Once inside I found myself a seat closest to a radiator on the lowest floor (it's really very cold at the moment). The library is quite small, but it's set over a few levels with gaps in the floor/ceiling and so feels pretty open.   

Nice

Despite the pleasant working conditions, the fact that I had eights hours sleep last night and my overwhelming love for writing essays (one of these three may not be quite as true as the others) by 11 o'clock I found myself starting to doze, so I went for a stroll around the library to wake myself up. 

Lovely

On my walk I discovered a few interesting objects, such as a plastic model of human skin and a bizarre contraption that might have something to do with light. 

I don't know what this is

The library was surprisingly busy - possibly because the students taking HPS are accustomed to the long working hours of a natsci or medic and have carried this work ethic over to this module, even if it is more 'arts'. I didn't manage to get any photos of the upper floors of the library because there were too many people looking studious and it would have been weird.

The upper floors were airy, with a tall white ceiling, large windows, and well-spaced out desks.

All in all, a really good library. It would have been nice to have stayed longer but a) despite my strategic location next to a radiator I had lost circulation in all but three of my toes, and b) I was really hungry. Nonetheless, the Whipple Library was a great place to spend a productive and not entirely unpleasant four and a half hours on a Monday morning.

(5) The Divinity Faculty Library

For my first library day of 2015, I'm visiting the divinity faculty library, the strange UFO-like building that looks as though it landed on the edge of the Sidgwick site by accident and figured that it might as well stay there.

Theologians commission futuristic building so no one can accuse them of studying an obsolete subject? 

For over two years now, I've gazed at the divinity faculty from my lectures with interest. Now it's my chance to reverse this, as I chose a seat with the inspiring view of the back of the history faculty.

See all those gullible history students who still believe that lectures are useful

The library has a 'no bags' rule and requests that everyone leaves their bags and coats on a shelf by the entrance, which seems a little bit eccentric, but I didn't want to make a fuss, despite the inconvenient fact that there were far more bags than shelves

Strange...

Inside, it's very modern and circular. A small ring of computers is surrounded by a medium sized ring of desks, which in turn is encompassed by a large ring of bookshelves in a rather aesthetically pleasing manner, which a few more desks dotted behind the bookshelves.

These lamps were probably the best I've encountered

I took a spot on one of the desks around the edge. They're spacious, clean, come with an exciting and flexible lamp, and even have a helpful translucent screen up the middle so there's no need to get distracted by whoever happens to be sitting opposite you. Unfortunately the screen isn't quite high enough to prevent awkward eye contact from occurring every so often. Best just to keep your head in a book...

Looking inwards towards the central ring

10/10 for the desks and lamps

In conclusion:
Nice layout, convenient location, lovely desks, but why can't we just take our bags to our desks with us?