MMLL Library

An image of the Raised Faculty Building with yellow Ginkgo leaves in the foreground. Superimposed text reads 'Opening Hours: After Friday 5th December, our vacation opening hours will resume. We will be open 9am - 5pm on weekdays.'

An image of autumnal green, red and yellow crisp leaves on the ground. Superimposed text reads 'Library closures: The library will close from 20th December - 4th January inclusive. We look forward to welcoming you back on 5th January!'

The library itself will be open on weekdays for anyone staying on into December, until we close for Christmas from 20th December - 4th January.
 
Enjoy these autumnal shots of Sidge, and a summary of our vacation borrowing policies!🍂

An image of pink and purple skies on the Sidgwick Site on an autumnal evening. Superimposed text reads 'Vacation borrowing at the MMLL Library: December 2025'.

A photo of leaves piling up alongside bike racks looking out over the Criminology Faculty and the Law Faculty. Superimposed text reads 'Requests: Requests are turned off from 2nd December so that nobody can recall your items whilst you're away from Cambridge.'

A photo of a tree outside the Raised Faculty Building in Cambridge, with leaves turning orange and yellow. Superimposed text reads 'Loans: Apart from short loans, all items will auto-renew throughout the vacation. You don't need to take any action.'

The end of another term is in sight! Well done to all those finishing up on essays, articles and teaching!

You may be wondering what to do with your library books as you head off for the holidays - except for short loans you can keep them all over the vacation!

A poster from the La Noire de... symposium on display in the MMLL Library foyer.

An exhibition on Ousmane Sembène in the MMLL Library foyer.

Relive the recent symposium on La Noire de… at the MMLL Library with our new exhibition!

Put together in collaboration with Dr Doyle Calhoun for the symposium, it combines Ousmane Sembène’s films and literary works, along with relevant scholarship.📚

A snowman made out of black and white books in the MMLL Library foyer. It has a red crochet scarf and paper buttons and nose. Paper snowflakes decorate the window in the background.

Happy Bridgemas!⛄️

Look out for multilingual crocheted Christmas trees around the library foyer, and for some festive treats at Tea & Biscuits!

Thalassopoetics: Ocean readings in French Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities

Call for papers 🌊
Thalassopoetics: Ocean readings in French

When we consider French literary traditions from the sea rather than the land, what perspectives does it give us, and what questions are we prompted to ask?

20-21 April 2026
Murray Edwards College
Deadline 31 Dec 2025
bit.ly/47S2nyb

A side-on view of the Black History Month exhibition in the MMLL Library foyer.

An up-close shot of a still from Touki Bouki, directed by Dijbril Diop Mambéty in The African gaze : photography, cinema and power / Amy Sall.

An up-close shot of the page captioned 'Whitney Houston performing at Wembley Arena' in Diva  / edited by Kate Bailey, available at AZ.12.2 in the MMLL Library.

An up-close shot of a page in Stéphane Martelly's Comme un trait. The page is covered in handwritten French, with colourful drawings on top of the text.

Our current exhibition is based around events happening locally to mark Black History Month, with a focus on audio/visual culture, from music and art to black divas throughout history.🎨🎼

Find out more about the events still happening across Cambridge via the link in our bio!

If you've been in the library recently you may have noticed the cabins for the Stirling Building refurbishment blocking some windows. Not to fear - we've replaced these with some sights we'd all much rather be looking out on!
 
Can you identify these dream Year Abroad destinations?

Good morning. We are aware that selective ebooks platforms are down. These include JSTOR, EBSCOhost, Taylor & Francis and BorrowBox (audiobooks). We believe that a major contributing factor is the disruption to Amazon Web Services, health.aws.amazon.com/health/status

Autumnal trees near the Alison Richard Building.

Lauren Berlant reading group 📚

Join CRASSH Fellow @darlingorlaith.bsky.social in tracing Berlant’s understanding of normative fantasies and their role in maintaining and critiquing the social and political orthodoxies of given eras

From 13 October, Alison Richard Building, CB3 9DP
bit.ly/4nFi9C0

The Stirling Building seen from the MMLL Library, surrounded by construction materials.

A display of foreign-language cookbooks in the MMLL Library foyer.

A plant pot on top of a shelf in the MMLL Library. The plant pot has a label reading 'Miguel de Cerplantes'.

- Foreign-language cookbooks to borrow🍳
- The Stirling Building is being refurbished.
- Punny plants around the library!

A poster of an Italian village on a concrete pillar in the MMLL Library.

A workspace in the MMLL Library where an external monitor sits on the table.

Flyers for booking library tours are held in the MMLL Library foyer. The text on them reads 'New to MMLL or fancy a refresher? Book a library tour via the QR code.' ' Tours will be held at 11am and 2:30pm on weekdays between 6th and 17th October.'

- External monitors for connecting to your laptop💻
- Posters using photography from students' years abroad.
- Library tours throughout early October.

The Q collection in the MMLL Library Student Room.

A yoga mat is held up in the MMLL Library foyer.

The Greek section in the MMLL Library.

- An expanded and reorganised collection on wellbeing, popular fiction, activism and more.
- Yoga mats for borrowing🧘‍♀️
- A growing Modern Greek collection, now located near the Medieval sections.

A photo showing a tree outside the MMLL Library where leaves are turning yellow. The following text is superimposed: 'What's new at the MMLL Library: Michaelmas 2025'.

A lamp and bookcase in the MMLL Library Student Room, accompanied by the text 'Cozy lighting'.

A photo of English-language fiction in translation. Titles shown include the Hunger Games in Italian, and Twilight in Polish.

Welcome to all those arriving in Cambridge for the new academic year!🍂📚

Here's a quick rundown of what's been happening at the MMLL Library in advance of the new term🧵

- Cozy lighting in the Student Room.
- English-language fiction translated into Tripos languages.

Over the holidays we’ve been busy with book moves and collection expansion at MMLL! 
 
We’ve added a selection of foreign-language cookbooks and popular fiction translated from English into MMLL Tripos languages - look out for speech bubbles marking this on the books’ spines💬

#UniversityofCambridge

If you desperately need an MMLL book during this time, you are welcome to email / ring the doorbell on the off chance that a staff member is in the library and can help - we cannot guarantee that this will be the case though!

Happy holidays to all☀️

The UL will be open during this period, and some Faculty libraries on the Sidgwick Site may also be open.

Two ginkgo trees outside the library in spring, with green leaves.

Two ginkgo trees outside the library in autumn, with yellow leaves.

Two ginkgo trees outside the library in winter, with no leaves.

At MMLL we’ve been tracking the beautiful ginkgo trees outside the library throughout the seasons!🌳

As we come to summer, the library will be closing to allow for staff annual leave and book move projects. We will be closed from 4th-26th August inclusive.

CRASSH at 25! Anniversary open calls, submit your ideas on the theme of 'Knowledge in a Fractured World'.

💥 CRASSH at 25!
Be part of our 2026 anniversary programme!

Submit your ideas in response to our anniversary open calls for a special annual lecture and a series of funded half-day events on the theme of
'Knowledge in a Fractured World'
buff.ly/MdzMVzX

Tell us about ‘Reimagining Ecologies in Italian Visual Culture’ - CRASSH Visual culture has profoundly shaped and shapes societal attitudes toward nature and non-human animals since the of the earliest images

🎤 in this Q&A, CIRN Fellow Pietro Agnoletto tells us about his upcoming event ‘Reimagining Ecologies in Italian Visual Culture’, which takes place on 11 June at CRASSH, and explores how environmental humanities can engage with the value placed on 'nature' and environmental issues
bit.ly/43HcXok

Thanks to Newnham College Library and @theseeleylib.bsky.social for their stamp contributions🤝

A plate of stamps with magnetic backing. The stamps are from various countries around the world - many show cultural landmarks or natural features.

The plate of fridge magnets is shown in the MMLL Library foyer.

As you can imagine, the books we purchase for MMLL are shipped from all over the world.📦

We’ve recently started collecting the gorgeous stamps which arrive on these parcels in order to make them into magnets as a small Easter term freebie!

Book trolleys with the names Gabriel Cartcía Márquez, Bookrecia Martel and Cartemisia Gentileschi printed on the sides are displayed in the MMLL Library foyer.

The cinema books reshelving shelf in the MMLL Library foyer, with a label reading 'Icíar Book-llaín'.

A bookshelf in the MMLL Library foyer, with a label reading 'Shelfriede Jelinek'

A book trolley with a label reading 'Samuel Bookett' is shown, with books piled on top.

Cambridge is getting busy with students settling back in for Easter term!

We’re taking this opportunity to also welcome some new punny trolleys to the library trolley team: meet Gabriel Cartcía Márquez, Bookrecia Martel, Cartemisia Gentileschi and Samuel Bookett!

Bookcases in the Latin American section of the MMLL Library.

📣The University of Cambridge now has online access to over 50 Latin American newspapers from the nineteenth and early twentieth century!
 
You can find the full collection via the University's A-Z of databases or by searching for the newspapers on iDiscover.
 
libguides.cam.ac.uk/az/databases...

AI generated cityscape twisting itself into a tangled knot. Event title, dates and venue as per post.

🌇 Join us for '#EntangledCities: Spaces of improvisation in contemporary Latin American urban culture'

Explore how Latin American urban cultures open new ways of thinking through improvisation and creative assemblage

2-3 May 2025
St Catharine's College, Cambridge
Register at buff.ly/qJytl9r
1/3

@maguiregeoff.bsky.social Wish we could tag you in the photo above but that doesn’t seem to be possible!

A display of new books on a stepladder in the MMLL Library.

New MMLL reads!📚

Look out for these on our new book displays around the library.

Here is also a quick reminder that the MMLL Library will be closing at 4pm every day next week, and that we’ll be closed from 18th-21st April. Happy Holidays!

A parcel held in front of a plant in the MMLL Library foyer. There are 22 stamps of French landmarks and houses on the parcel.

Absolutely incredible stamp game on this recently arrived parcel at MMLL!

Who thinks we should turn some of these into magnets?👀

💫 Cambridge Festival
Fairy-Tale Mirages: A creative storytelling workshop

👨‍👩‍👦 Adults
🗓️ 22 March 4.30-6pm
📍 CB3 9DP
🎟️ buff.ly/TduEwyf

Dive into fairy tales from the Mediterranean sea & activities based on Sicilian and Calabrian fairy tales that feature liminal sea creatures

A photo of the exhibition space in the MMLL Library Foyer. On the bottom shelves are two rows of DVDs by women filmmakers, above are shelves highlighting the platform BFI Player and the journal Sight and Sound. One copy of Sight and Sound highlights Alice Diop, and another is open on a page about motherhood in films. On the top row of the display are more DVDs, as well as information about the  streaming platforms Klassiki and BoB.

A photo of the journal Sight and Sound, open to a page on motherhood in films.

A photo of the exhibition space in the MMLL Library Foyer. On the bottom shelves are two rows of DVDs by women filmmakers, above are shelves highlighting the platform BFI Player and the journal Sight and Sound. One copy of Sight and Sound highlights Alice Diop, and another is open on a page about motherhood in films. On the top row of the display are more DVDs, as well as information about the  streaming platforms Klassiki and BoB.

To celebrate #InternationalWomensDay, we've gathered some resources which spotlight women in film - from criticism and journals to films by female filmmakers from around the world.

You can also find details about streaming platforms which University members can access - Sunday plans sorted!🍿

On a concrete pillar of the Raised Faculty Building, a poster in French reads “Après toutes les cages d’escalier sont enrobées de marbre noir. Smaller posters in English translation are superimposed on the French one.

On another concrete pillar of the Raised Faculty Building, a large poster in English reads “But it’s as if the description comes before the feeling”. A smaller poster in French reads “Mais c’est comme si la description passait avant le ressenti”.

A large poster in French on a pillar of the RFB reads “Quelqu’un a collé une affiche”. Smaller superimposed posters in French repeat the same words, and an English poster translates the phrase: “Someone has put up a poster”.

If you’re at the library today or tomorrow, have a break in the sun and check out the 48-hour installation Sur place & À emporter by Sébastien Hoëltzener and Nina Rendulić, co-ordinated by Prof Hugo Azérad.

A description of the installation can be found here: www.festival.cam.ac.uk/events/sur-p...