Lady Margaret Beaufort, foundress of the College, was particularly concerned with the provision of books for her new foundation. From her donation of thirty-nine Latin texts, the Library has grown to accommodate an ever-expanding number of books and readers.

Today we have over 80,000 printed books and manuscripts serving the needs of students, Fellows, staff and researchers. For more information about our collections, please follow the links to the Working Library, Old Library, Archives, or Library Catalogue. Current Library news can be found on our current awareness blog.

The Library team curate two or three exhibitions each year, based on the collections held in the Old Library. These are open to the public as well as College members. For details of our current exhibition see our special collections blog.

Two of our previous exhibitions, celebrating Christ's most famous alumni Charles Darwin and John Milton, are permanently available online. To view the 2009 exhibition 'Charles Darwin: On Land and at Sea', click here. 'Milton in the Old Library', curated in 2008 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the birth of John Milton, is also available to view online. In addition, Christ's offers Darkness visible, an exciting resource for school and university students working on Milton's writings.