Library Access
- Accessibility Guide
The Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre has introduced a virtual transition event to welcome students and introduce the different services on offer at the University.
Our Accessibility Guide is designed to introduce Newnham Library spaces and services. You can download maps of the library separately too. Please let us know if you would like a printed version. The text on this page is a plain text version of the content of the leaflet.
- Library Access
There is step-free access into the library, with one set of card-access sliding doors into the library lobby (to the self-issue machine and book return area) and another set of card-access sliding doors into the main library. A lift links all three floors of the Horner Markwick building.
- Click & Collect - our book fetching service
Our Click and Collect service is available for members of Newnham College. Just complete the form or email library@newn.cam.ac.uk with details of up to 5 books you want to borrow and their classmarks. Allow at least one working day for us to process your request and, subject to availability, we’ll find the books, issue them to your account, and invite you or your proxy borrower to collect them.
- Library Spaces
Horner Markwick Library
- Unisex toilet on lower ground floor.
- Accessible toilet down the corridor in both directions, on the way to the buttery or in the Iris café.
- Height-adjustable chairs in the Horner Markwick Library and fully adjustable chairs in the IT suite.
- Level access to all floors via lift.
- Some higher shelves may require the use of a kick stool. Please ask staff if you would like us to fetch any books.
- Two ground floor desks are reserved for priority users as accessible study spaces.
Yates Thompson Library
- Access via Horner Markwick main entrance.
- Accessible toilet down the corridor in both directions, on the way to the buttery or in the Iris café.
- First floor not wheelchair accessible; please ask a member of staff to fetch books.
- Some higher shelves may require the use of a kick stool. Please ask staff if you would like us to fetch any books.
- Two ground floor desks are reserved for priority users as accessible study spaces.- Additional services available
- Extended borrowing rights: let us know if you need longer loan periods or a higher book limit and we’ll make the necessary adjustments. Automated book renewals mean that unless books have been requested for use by another reader, your loans will renew automatically.
- 1:1 inductions: all new students will be sent links to induction videos with subtitles on fire evacuation, borrowing, and navigating the Library. If you would rather book a 1:1 session, just let us know and we can arrange that for you.
- Fetching books: if your physical or mental health makes it difficult to use part or all of the Library, we can fetch books for you.
- Proxy borrowing: if you have been assigned a helper from the Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre (ADRC), please let us know so that we can arrange their induction and set up an account for them to borrow books on your behalf.
- Please let us know if there are any library resources (posters, leaflets, etc.) that you would prefer in an alternative format.Please do not hesitate to contact the Librarian if there is anything else we can do to help you to work in the Library.
- Assistive equipment
- Book rests
- Adjustable desk lamps
- Magnifying sheets
- Blue paper for printing
- Fidget stim toys
- Back rest
- Foot rest
- Laptop stands
- SAD lamps
Please let us know if you have any other recommendations of assistive equipment that would help you or other students and we’ll do our best to provide it.- Assistive software
SensusAccess
This service allows students and staff at Cambridge to create alternative document formats. It allows anyone with a University of Cambridge email address to upload documents in a variety of formats (e.g. pdf, png, jpeg) and have those documents quickly converted to alternative and accessible formats, in a range of languages. Please ask a member of library staff for more information.RNIB Bookshare
Students with a qualifying print disability may be eligible for access to the RNIB Bookshare service. Please contact the Accessibility Service for for further information if you require ebooks, audio books, or books in different formats.- Shelf help collection
You’ll find a collection of ‘shelf help’ books – anything from how to fix your bike, to study skills, to social anxiety, to guides to relaxation and stress reduction – on the shelves to the left of the Horner Markwick as you enter the library. They all begin with the classmark 070, and you can browse the collection online too.
You can borrow these books as normal, either from a member of staff at the front desk or through the self-issue terminals in the Library lobby. You can borrow some of these books anonymously without scanning them onto them to your library account. They will have a sticker on the front cover with the following text:
You do not need to charge this book to your account. If you prefer, you can just borrow the book without recording the loan and return it through the anonymous book drops when you have finished.
Please let us know if you have any suggestions for other welfare books. If you would like your suggestion to be anonymous, please just put ‘welfare request’ in the *Name and *Email part of the Newnham College Library online recommendation form.
