Welcome to Cambridge! Library staff are looking forward to meeting you.
This page contains some introductory information to help you start to familiarise yourself with Girton College Library and other libraries across the university. You'll use libraries throughout your degree, whether it's to borrow books, make use of online resources, or simply as a study space. Each library has its own staff who will be very happy to help you with any questions you might have during your time at Cambridge.
Libraries in Cambridge
Depending on your subject, you'll have one or two favourite libraries, and your college library is likely to be one of the first you use. Our aim is to help you find the resources and services you need for your work, whether you’re exploring the library sites themselves or looking for support from your room. Cambridge has over a hundred libraries, which fall into three broad categories:
- College libraries are based within your college. This is your ‘home’ library. College libraries usually only lend books to their own students. Girton College Library is a study space for all Girton students, and its interdisciplinary collection is primarily focused on undergraduate reading lists. You won't be able to study in other College libraries, but if another College library holds the only copy of a book you need, you will usually be able to make an appointment to consult the book.
- Subject libraries tend to be based within or near the relevant Faculty or Department. They provide comprehensive coverage of your subject, as well as more specialist material for graduate students and researchers. You can register at and use nearly all subject libraries. You are not restricted to using the resources and study space at your own subject library.
- The central University Library (or the UL) provides extensive study space, research resources, and special collections (including rare books, manuscripts, and maps). It runs various centralised library services, such as inter-library loans, a click & collect service and the scan & deliver service. It also has a very nice tea room!
Borrowing rules can vary across the different libraries. You can find out more about borrowing, returning and renewing items from Girton College Library on our main webpage and our Library guides page. The Library Essentials LibGuide contains further general information about borrowing, requesting and renewing loans from other libraries. Do contact the lending library directly if you are unsure of the rules.
Online resources
As a Cambridge student, you have access to nearly a million ebooks, over 100,000 e-journals, and around 900 databases. These resources are subscribed to and managed by the University. The vast majority of electronic resource access is centralised: whichever college you’re a member of and whichever subject you’re studying, you will have access automatically via your Cambridge log-in wherever you are.
For more information on ebooks, you can look at our guide to ebooks or the ebooks@cambridge LibGuide. These guides will give you more information on using ebooks and other e-resources.
Finding resources
You can start exploring which printed books are held in Girton's Library from home using our online catalogue (Heritage). For information on finding, reserving and renewing items, see our eGuides page.
You can also look for printed books in other libraries, as well as ebooks, using the University's iDiscover catalogue. The iDiscover YouTube playlist demonstrates the basic functions of searching for books and checking your account, and the iDiscover LibGuide provides instructions on advanced searches, requests, and renewals. Most of Girton's print holdings are also included in iDiscover.
Once you have the location and classmark of the book, you'll be able to track it down in the Library. Many courses use Leganto/Reading Lists Online to store their reading lists, and any books on a reading list will be clearly marked on iDiscover.
If you ever can't find a book you need or if we don’t have enough copies, please let us know using our purchase recommendation form.
Exploring the College Library and more
You will be invited to a tour of the Library with the other first-year students in your subject — please look out for information when you arrive.
If you want to explore Girton College Library in more detail before you arrive, you'll find more information on our main webpage. You can find out more about other libraries in the University using the Library Essentials LibGuide.
If you would like to explore academic life at Cambridge more generally, take a look at CamGuides. CamGuides was written by librarians (including Girton's Librarian) and will guide you through some of the academic and information practices and skills that you will need for your degree.
If you have any questions about access within Girton Library, please see our AccessAble page. The University has a Libraries Accessibility Service: they have a LibGuide with more information about the help they offer to students. If you have more specific questions about accessibility, don't hesitate to get in touch with us via email at library@girton.cam.ac.uk.
Any questions?
If you have any questions or there is anything else we can do to help, please email library@girton.cam.ac.uk. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
Page last updated: September 2026.