Jesus College Quincentenary Library, Cambridge

Until 1906, the only library at Jesus College was a dedicated room inside the 16th century “New college”. Its collection of medieval manuscripts was of high interest to researchers but of little use to students, who were all expected to own their own copies of study texts. As new subjects started being offered, the need for a library for students became evident in the early 20th century. At first, the student library occupied a set of rooms in one of the Courts, until in 1952 the War Memorial Library was constructed to replace a portion of the building that was lost to fire. To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the college’s foundation, a new student library opened in 1995, funded in part by subscription from alumni. The location chosen for the new library was the site of the former porter’s lodge garden, which by then had gone mostly fallow and used for car parking. Completed in 1995, the library was officially dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II on March 8, 1996. It had room for 40,000…