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Welcome to Cambridge Digital Library

A home for the discovery of digitised material, associated research outputs, and a hub for digital humanities activity at the University of Cambridge.

Our aim is to make cultural heritage collections accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world with an internet connection. We often add or update content, which is not limited to images and data. Wherever possible we seek to enhance and connect our digital collections. We do this through collaborating with a broad network of scholars and researchers, often working closely with the University Library Research Institute and Cambridge Digital Humanities . This can take many forms, including detailed description, specialist imaging, transcription or translation. You can even find outputs from practice-based research that uses the collections.

You can currently explore over 1.5 million images of more than 160,000 items from the collections of no less than 100 institutions and individuals.

Another goal is for the platform and content to enable teaching and research. Images, texts and metadata for download and reuse where copyright and licensing permit. You can also access content through application programming interfaces (APIs) such as the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) .

We aspire to the FAIR and CARE principles.

Please be aware that content may include images or language that are offensive, inaccurate, inappropriate, or that express historical attitudes. They may reflect the context of their creation, or we may have limited information. If you have any specific concerns, please contact us as we would welcome any extra information.

The Cultural Heritage Imaging Lab manages the supply and reproduction of images. They can also arrange new photography of collection items as well as a wide range of specialist imaging services.

Our Mission, Vision & Values

The mission of the University of Cambridge is to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

Cambridge Digital Library supports this mission through a vision based on our core values:

• Access – We want our unique and distinctive collections to be openly accessible to as many people as possible.
• Collaboration – By working together with partners across different local, national and international institutions we foster a platform for sharing that benefits all and extends our combined reach and effectiveness.
• Engagement – We don’t just want to make our collections available, we also want to encourage people to use them and help us develop them further.
• Innovation – We want to ensure the long-standing legacy of our content remains relevant as technologies evolve so that researchers will be able to study it long into the future in new and exciting ways.
• Inspiration – Many of our collections focus on inspirational people and themes. We want to inspire a thirst for knowledge, understanding and further research.

Our Story so far

Over the course of six centuries Cambridge University Library’s collections have grown from a few dozen volumes into one of the world’s great libraries, with an extraordinary accumulation of material. The collections cover every conceivable aspect of human endeavour, spanning most of the world’s cultural traditions.

The first phase of work on Cambridge Digital Library, which ran from 2010 to 2014 was made possible through a lead gift of £1.5m from Dr Leonard Polonsky. This generous support has enabled the Library to develop its technical infrastructure and create significant content, particularly in the areas of faith and science – two areas of strength within our unique and distinctive collections. It has also enabled us to attract funding from other sources, including the AHRC, NSF, NEH, JISC and other private donors.

Wherever possible we seek to enhance our digital collections by aligning them with scholarly research. Examples of this include not only collaborations with research projects based here within Cambridge University Library, such as the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit and the Darwin Correspondence Project , but also those from further afield such as the Newton Project and the Darwin Manuscripts Project , which is based at the American Museum of Natural History. Our Sanskrit Collection, Spanish Chapbooks collection and Board of Longitude collection have all been significantly enriched through major AHRC research projects.