The start of this academic year might be rather different from usual, but some things remain the same. As always at the beginning of Michaelmas Term, music library staff are very excited to welcome new students to Cambridge, and to welcome back returning students!
As new students may have gathered by now, there are plenty of libraries in Cambridge. The Pendlebury Library, located in the Music Faculty, is likely to be your first stop for music tripos resources, while the University Library Music Collections, just over the road from the Music Faculty, gives you access to a vast amount more music and music literature. We would normally be busy running tours during induction week, introducing ourselves and the music collections to new students. As that has not been possible this year, we can instead offer you a visit to the ‘virtual music libraries’ – explore the Pendlebury Library here and the Anderson Music Reading Room at the University Library here!
The Anderson Music Reading Room, University Library 
The Pendlebury Library Reading Room
Over the last few months, adding to the music libraries’ online resources has been a priority, and so a good proportion of your reading list material may be online – searching the library catalogue iDiscover will bring up online books and journals as well as physical library resources. However, for items you need which we only hold in hard copy, there are services available both at the Pendlebury and the University Library.
The Pendlebury Library is currently offering a Click-and-Collect service for borrowable items, as well as Book-and-Browse slots for those wishing to browse the open shelves, and Reading Room slots for those wishing to study in the library. Information about these services and links for booking them can be found on the Music LibGuides pages, under the Covid-19 tab. For new students who would like to browse the shelves, or who are wondering where to find the Reading Room, you can find information about the library classification scheme on the library website, and a rough guide to the layout of the Pendlebury Library can be seen below.
Over at the University Library, although the Anderson Music Reading Room is not yet open, you can still access music collections via the University Library’s zero contact services, or by booking a visit to consult material. As well as this, you can head over to the Anderson Room in video form and meet with the Masked Librarian, who will explain some of the complexities of searching the music collections at the University Library…
You can contact music library staff via email, both at the Pendlebury and at the University Library, so please do get in touch with any questions! If you would like a one-to-one discussion with a member of the music library team, you can book a Library Chat appointment via the Libguides pages – will we give you a call on Zoom or Microsoft Teams and try to help with any questions you have about the music libraries or your information needs. You can also contact us and keep up to date with library new via our social media channels – find the Pendlebury Library and the Anderson Room on Twitter, and our shared Music Collections Facebook page.
KC
MusiCB3 Blog 