Third Court Library

Current members of Christ's College are welcome to use the Library 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You will need you CamCard for access.

Prospective students are welcome to visit the Library - do say hello to us on an Open day tour or contact us in advance if you'd like to arrange an individual visit.

Members of other Cambridge Colleges may not use the Library, however you are welcome to make an appointment to consult a book, providing it is not available at the University Library or any Department/Faculty Libraries. Please note that you must contact us before you visit, and we offer visits 9:30-4:30 Monday-Friday.

Alumni of Christ's College are welcome to visit the Library between 9:30-4:30 - please contact us in advance if you know when you are likely to visit, so we can let you in and make sure a staff member is available to greet you. Requests to use the Library study space must be made in advance and any decision is at the discretion of the Library staff.

Special Collections or Archives readers with a genuine research enquiry, please see the Special Collections or Archives pages for more information and our access policies.

Members of the public are not permitted to visit or use the Third Court Library.

All the books in the Working Library can be found by searching iDiscover - the online Library catalogue for the nearly every Library in the University of Cambridge.

At Christ's, we aim to support all Part I Tripos papers and as many as possible for Part II, with some material for taught postgraduate courses. 

This iDiscover LibGuide gives instructions on many of iDiscover's functions, including how to search for books, journal articles, ebooks, and how to use your iDiscover account.

Library staff are also happy to help if you need assistance. 

Ebooks and ejournals can be searched for via iDiscover, just like print resources. The iDiscover LibGuide gives information on how to search for them.

In addition, there is also a dedicated Ebooks LibGuide by the ebooks@cambridge team which provides a wealth of information.

There is an A-Z directory listing the databases you have access to while at the University of Cambridge.

There is a separate LibGuide listing the online Newspaper subscriptions the University subscribes to.

The College is always pleased to hear from individuals who are considering donating books or other materials to the College Library, and acknowledges the contribution that donors have made throughout its history to the Library collections through their generosity. However, due to severe space constraints and the staff time needed to process donations, careful consideration has to be given to every prospective gift of materials to ensure the long-term sustainability of the collection.

Please see our full donations policy for further information.

The study space comprises 3 reading rooms, with over 50 spaces. 

The one reading room is a silent working space, and two have a level of quiet noise permitted, so please look out for signage indicating permitted noise levels in different spaces. 
Hot and cold drinks are permitted in all reading rooms, but food is not. There is a student tea point available in the Library if you would like to eat or make a drink.

Computers and printing facilities are located in Rooms 1 and 5 in the Library.

Room 1 houses:
- Printer, scanner, and photocopier (multi-function device)
- 1 University Managed Desktops (UMD)
- 1 USB-C docking station (a screen, keyboard and mouse, which uses a USB-C cable connection)

Room 5 houses:
- Printer, scanner, and photocopier (multi-function device)
- 1 University Managed Desktops (UMD)
- 1 HDMI screen (a screen which uses an HDMI connection)

We are committed to providing an inclusive Library service for all students. Please see the Library's Assistive Resources page for more information on the assistance and services we offer.

The Library has a collection of ergonomic equipment, paper and other items to help you make the most of your Library visit. These are available and can be used by anyone within the Library - there is no need to ask or tell staff what you are using. We only ask that equipment is returned so that it can be available for other readers.

If you have any feedback or suggestions, we'd love to hear them, so please send us an email, or pop in to see us.

In conjunction with Homerton College, we offer orchestral and vocal sets for hire, to Christ's College members and to the wider public.

Please see the Music Hire website for further information, including contact details and a searchable database.