Searching for resources
When studying at Cambridge, your starting points for finding the material you need will be Heritage (Girton Library's catalogue) and iDiscover (the University-wide catalogue). For more information on how to get the most out of these tools, see our Library skills guides.
The libraries you are most likely to use regularly are Girton Library, the University Library, and the English Faculty Library. Within Girton Library you will find our English resources all along the left side of the Upper Library. If you need something for your studies that we don't have, please feel free to recommend it for purchase.
You may also find it helpful to visit and use the Seeley Library, the MMLL Library and the Classics Faculty Library. There may be other libraries within Cambridge that stock useful resources: for a full list, see the libraries directory, where you can also check each library for access guidelines. Search Spacefinder to find places of study outside of College.
Subject LibGuides
Subject-specific resources
The LibGuides above contain many links to subject-related information and assistance, including a guide to referencing for English students. You can also find and search for databases that might help you on the Databases A-Z LibGuide (please note that you will need to be logged in to your University account to access many of these). Some helpful online resources for your subject include:
- Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL). Extensive bibliographical resource which aims to list every scholarly work on English language and literature no matter where it is published or what language it is published in. Covers a wide range of different subjects.
- Digital Theatre Plus. Provides access to filmed theatre productions as well as behind-the-scenes content and information on the process of making theatre and on the individual plays.
- Drama Online. Collection of play texts and some scholarly works. Also contains performances from companies including the National Theatre, the RSC, and more.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO). Databases of over 180,000 works from the eighteenth century, comprising books, pamphlets, broadsides and more.
- Early English Books Online (EEBO). Digitised images of works printed in English from 1470-1700, including the UK, America, and elsewhere.
- English Poetry. Searchable online collection containing over 160,000 poems, comprising the complete canon of English poetry of the British Isles from the 8th century to around 1900.
- Faber Poetry Library. Collection of some of the most influential poets of the twentieth century, including primary texts, criticism, and reference works.
- The Forest of Rhetoric (silva rhetoricae). Website (now fairly old) explaining the major concepts of classical and Renaissance rhetoric alongside examples and more general information on the history of rhetoric.
- An Introduction to Practical Criticism. Cambridge English virtual classroom which provides an introduction to and examples of how to go about practical criticism.
- Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It provides information on the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past.
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB). Concise scholarly biographies of historical and literary figures.
- Oxford Scholarly Editions Online. Collection of annotated editions of primary texts which can be searched by author, work or edition. Includes classical texts as well as works from across the whole span of English literature.
- PhilPapers. Extensive index and bibliography of research in philosophy.
- Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive. Every page of every copy of the TLS from 1902-2014, with articles on a vast range of literary topics.
Help within college
Library staff can provide support and assistance. You can book an appointment with us or ask a question via library@girton.cam.ac.uk.
Page last updated: September 2026.