Identity area
Reference code
GC/LIB
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 1589-1997 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
2 metres paper
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Gonville Hall had acquired a lending collection of common books for the fellowship by the early 15th century; by the 1430s these had a dedicated home in a library which remained on the same site (the east side of Gonville Court) until the 1850s when it was moved to the north east corner of the College. A reading room was added in 1909, and the Library gradually expanded into the upper floors of Gonville Court until its removal to the former University Library, the Cockerell Building, in 1996.
The College's library collection of manuscripts and of printed books, was largely built up out of the gifts of succeeding generations of scholars. To a quite exceptional degree, the College has preserved its medieval library. The Library was also regarded as a place of safe-keeping for objects of value to the College, such as artefacts like the astrolabes, and historical records, like Dr Caius' statutes. From 1839 onwards, a Library fund, levied from the fees of students to provide for the purchase of new books was revived. The purchase of new books, and the provision of a reading room in the early twentieth century reflected the development of a new role for the Library, in providing a service to the junior as well as the senior members of the College. A division emerged between the 'Working Library', a borrowing collection for use by all member of the College; and the 'Old Library' housing the manuscripts and early printed books.
The first mention in College records of the appointment of a Librarian from among the fellowship is in 1629. During the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the running of the Library has continued to be the responsibility of a fellow Librarian, with increasing support from professionally qualified staff led by a Sub-Librarian.
(For further information regarding the history of the Library and its collections, see the Library Booklet published annually by the Library, Caius and Cockerell: the transformation of a library (1997), J. Venn, Biographical History, Volume III, p.188 and C.N.L. Brooke, History of Gonville and Caius College, pp.33-7).
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The records consist of modern administrative records of the Library, including
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catalogues of holdings
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metadata regarding the management of the collections, including records of acquisitions by donation and purchase, of books removed from the collections, of the arrangement of materials, and of their use
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library accounts
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minutes of the Library committee
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records of enquiries about the collections and College history.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
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A sixteenth century shelf list of the Library can be found at the beginning of the first matriculation book (TUT)
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information regarding library buildings can be found in the Master's and the Domestic Bursar's files, and among plans and drawings (MAS, DOM, PD)
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images of the Library can be found in the photographic collection (PH). - The Library has traditionally kept its own records, therefore, a number of its early records can be found among the College's manuscript collection, as listed by M.R. James in his Catalogue of Manuscripts (1907), notably, borrowing registers (mss. 649-654, 900) and catalogues (mss. 643, 700).