Charlotte Brontë was born #OnThisDay in 1816.
This video features Charlotte's own copy of the Book of Common Prayer and Psalms. It was a gift from Arthur Bell Nicholls, her father’s curate and the man she would later marry.
Collection items used in this video:
Rit.d.775.1
XIX.58.42
Mm.23.46
We’re pleased to say the University Library is open today, and we aim to keep services running and minimise disruption. As things may change at short notice, we recommend checking our latest updates before travelling:
www.lib.cam.ac.uk/using-librar...
For Tues 21 and Wed 22 April, we currently expect:
🔵 the UL will open 9.30am-7pm.
🔵 the Tea Room will open 9.30am-3pm.
🔵 @theulspeccoll.bsky.social services will be open, but fetching may be limited. Please order, find or reserve material in advance.
🔵 Our Living Water exhibition will be open.
Industrial action at the University Library is scheduled for:
Tues 21st April
Wed 22nd April
Thurs 30th April
Fri 1st May
We aim to maintain services during strikes and minimise disruption, but some last minute changes may occur. Stay updated: www.lib.cam.ac.uk/using-librar...
⬇️
Honey bees in a bee hive.
Quick peek at the @theul.bsky.social bees today. Looking good and ready for Spring.
Pleased to stumble over this - invitation to lunch @pembroke1347.bsky.social, my own college, following official opening of Giles Gilbert Scott’s new building for @theul.bsky.social. I was actually looking for something else - info on 1929 architectural model of the building which we still have.
Gorgeous first visit to @lichfieldcathedral.bsky.social today in bright sunshine. The feet belong to John Hacket (d. 1670), Bishop of Lichfield & Coventry and donor of some quite nice books to @theul.bsky.social.
A perfect day @magogdown.bsky.social to admire swathes of cowslips and spot @theul.bsky.social
#SpringWatch #CambridgeUniversityLibrary
Anyone working in history of comedy/satire, television, modern British politics - there's a fully funded PhD to research the Spitting Image archive @theul.bsky.social, with supervision at Exeter Uni. All disciplines considered, pls do share widely.
www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...
Introducing Ian Dubrowsky, the 2026 WongAvery Visiting Scholar 📚
Ian, a doctoral student from UC San Diego, is here to research our Chinese Collections as part of the WongAvery Visiting Scholar Exchange programme.
https://loom.ly/hwdVy9s
A screen with the words: "Libraries Alliance. Libraries Through Life".
A photograph of the entrance to the British Academy
A photograph from a presentation at the Libraries Alliance event. The text on the screen reads: "Libraries Alliance. Libraries Through Life."
Today, we took part in the launch of the Libraries Alliance at The British Academy in London.
Celebrating ‘Libraries Through Life’, the Alliance brings together the library organisations that touch every aspect of people’s lives.
🔎Find out more: https://loom.ly/NkgReFY
Promotional graphic from Cambridge University Library for “The Really Popular Book Club,” featuring the book cover of Bridgerton: The Duke and I by Julia Quinn. The cover shows a Regency-era couple standing back-to-back in a garden setting. The title “The Duke & I” and “by Julia Quinn” appear below on a dark banner against a pink background.
This month's Really Popular Book Club choice is The Duke and I by Julia Quinn.
Join us to discuss the novel with our special guest, historian, author and broadcaster Amy Boyington.
📅Tuesday 28 April 2026
⏰7pm to 8pm
📍 Hosted online using Zoom Meetings.
🎟️ https://loom.ly/WKRmGBM
Such a treat to see this rare collection of pre-1910 British women's suffrage posters up close at @theul.bsky.social this week. This is the top half of a gigantic poster using French revolutionary archetypes to accuse the Liberal prime minister H.H. Asquith of hypocrisy. J'accuse, indeed.
Fantastic PhD studentship opportunity - Spitting Image: political satire in Britain in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Working across @exeter.ac.uk and @theul.bsky.social in partnership with the @camglamresearch.bsky.social and drawing on the Roger Law archive.
#PhDsky
A bright, high-ceilinged library reception area with chandeliers and large arched windows. A staff member stands behind a curved wooden “Reader Services” desk, speaking with a visitor who is holding a phone. Other people and computer workstations are visible in the background, with books stacked on the counter.
Not sure where to start with our collections, services, or workspaces?
Join one of our free 45-minute taster tours and get a guided introduction from our friendly library team.
📅 Upcoming dates:
15 April, 18 April, 9 May, 13 May, 10 June, 13 June.
🔗 Book now: https://loom.ly/COaO_cY
Yes! The level of planning shown by the document is fascinating.
#OnThisDay in 1689, William III and Mary II were crowned as joint monarchs in Westminster Abbey, the only joint sovereigns in British history.
This interesting document lists ‘Orders to be Observed’ on the day of the coronation. Woe betide anyone who forgot their ticket!
Classmark: Sel.3.234.
Two people standing side by side in an exhibition space, leaning over a glass display and smiling as they look at something together, with wall text “Living” and “Friendship” in the background.
Living Water: Poetry, Art and the Fight for Clean Rivers is now open!
🔎 Find out more: https://loom.ly/48X86bY
🎟️ FREE entry
📍Cambridge University Library and Pembroke College
The Artemis II crew's amazing images are the latest in a series of human observations of the moon, reaching back to Galileo in 1610, who published the first images of the moon based on telescopic observation.
Our copy comes from the library of Astronomer Royal John Couch Adams (Adams.5.61.1).
The Map Room at Cambridge University Library. We see a large, brightly coloured map book open on a table. In the background is a wall of windows.
The Map Room is closed today Friday 10 April from 11.15am to 3pm.
We apologise for any inconvenience. If you have any questions, please reach out to the team at maps@lib.cam.ac.uk.
Photo by Alice the Camera.
Always a good start to the day when you’re greeted @theul.bsky.social by Odysseus!
Spring sunshine brings with it the return of a much adored visitor to Cambridge University Library - our friend Odysseus. He claims he's here to pick up a Daphne du Meowrier novel, but we suspect he's actually checking out a Dan-yowl Steel. What do you think he might be reading?
#OdysseusTheCat
A photograph showing a bright yellow cowslip on a green lawn. In the background is a warehouse facility with stripy blue and silver panels.
Spring has arrived at the Cambridge University Library Storage Facility, near Ely.
This facility contains 65 miles of storage space, and currently houses around 2.8 million of our books!
Photo by Eliot Lees.
The time-honoured pursuit of butterflies on libraries. A Camberwell Beauty lands on the Wren Library, @trincolllibcam.bsky.social in 1876; 150 years later, a Peacock on @theul.bsky.social.
A 1920s book illustration by Cecil Aldin depicting a dressed bunny doffing his hat
A rabbit in a medieval manuscript
A black and white illustration of three bunnies in a field
🐇 Hoppy Easter, friends!
We are closed today, re-opening tomorrow Tuesday 7 April at 9am.
🐇Bunnies:
A rabbit doffs his hat, from Bunnyborough by Cecil Aldin (1920.11.2)
Medieval manuscript rabbit, from Le Roman de la Rose (MS Gg.4.6)
Bunnies in a field, from Storyland Farm Book (1913.9.176)
A richly decorated medieval manuscript page depicting the resurrection of Christ, featuring gold leaf and bright colours.
✝️ Easter Sunday is the day Christians celebrate the Resurrection of Christ.
This resplendent image of Christ rising from his tomb is from a 14th-century English Book of Hours (Cambridge University Library, MS Dd.4.17).
See more; https://loom.ly/G4Wj4_g
@camdiglib.bsky.social
An old book illustration of a dog wearing a bonnet.
Easter bonnet? Nailed it. 🐾
We hope you have a lovely bank holiday weekend. We are closed for Easter, Friday 3 April to Monday 6 April inclusive. We re-open at 9am on Tuesday 7 April 2026.
Illustration: Our Picture Scrap Book, Ernest Lister, 1914 (1915.9.66).
Image depicts the Crucifixion with weeping personifications of Sol and Luna, Virgin, St John writing on tablet: 'Et ego vidi et testimonium', hand of God above Christ on Cross inscribed 'Lignum vite'
✝️Today is Good Friday, the day when Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
This remarkable image appears in a late Anglo-Saxon Bilingual Psalter in Old English and Latin (Cambridge University Library, MS Ff.1.23).
🔗 https://loom.ly/QzyWWNg @camdiglib.bsky.social
Our new exhibition, Living Water, invites you to dive into the world of artist Barrie Cooke. Explore his remarkable creative friendship with poets Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes through letters, poetry and art.
🎟️ FREE!
📍The UL & Pembroke College
🔎 Find out more: https://loom.ly/48X86bY
A photograph of Cambridge University Library on a sunny day.
What's on this week at Cambridge University Library?
📚Visit our new exhibition, Living Water.
📚Take a break and read some poetry in new Reading Nook in the North corridor.
📚We are closed for Easter, 3 April to 6 April inclusive.
🔎Exhibition opening times: https://loom.ly/FSLQWrg
