Library collections in the West Hub (2022)
Things to know
The West Hub, on the opposite side of J.J. Thomson Avenue, holds the physical collections for the Department of Computer Science and Technology. There are also a variety of spaces for study and collaborative work, with library staff available to answer enquiries between 9am and 3pm, or at a time that best suits you through our 1:1 booking service here.
The West Hub is open Monday to Friday, from 8am to 7pm. Opening times may vary, so please visit our page here, for any changes to these hours.
Current staff and students can borrow items from the collection at the West Hub and access our e-resources. If you need support finding books, articles or databases, reach out to us at the Information Desk on the first floor of the West Hub, or book a 1:1 appointment with your librarian.
Students can visit the Computer Sciences LibGuides here to discover the collection and support for the subject.
The Collection
The collection is curated by librarians, with most resources made available electronically, where possible, to support study and research wherever our users are.
- Library guides
- Library catalogues
- Electronic resources
- Local services
- Departmental technical reports
- External institutions’ technical reports
- Resource lists
- Reading lists
A Brief History of the Library
The library was started soon after the Laboratory’s foundation in 1937, and was housed within the Laboratory up until the Summer of 2019. At this time the collection included material from the earliest computers up to the present day, including about 4,500 books (including conference proceedings and theses), 100 periodical titles, and 14,000 technical reports.
The main collection was moved to the West Hub in spring 2022, enabling department members to benefit from more space, both in the Computer Laboratory building and at the West Hub, to study, collaborate and socialise.
Other Information
The University now has access to the Compendex database, hosted on the Engineering Village platform. Compendex is a database which currently indexes over 30 million articles mainly from journals and conference proceedings. The subject coverage is focussed on engineering and computer science. The content is from the major publishers and as such includes the ACM and IEEE journals as well as many others.
Following a recent review conducted by the Technology Libraries Team, we are now able to offer a revised and expanded guide to standards with information on several sources of standards information available to staff and students. There is a particular focus on access and coverage.
As part of the above review the guide to patents has also been reviewed and updated.
An induction page has been created to help new students better understand the library system within Cambridge.