Congregational Library access regulations
You are welcome to visit the Congregational Library to consult its collections. However, you must contact the Library in advance of your visit in writing. Your request should be emailed to [email protected]. Access is conditional on your agreeing to its regulations by signing this form. The regulations are in place to protect the collection and to allow us to provide an efficient and helpful service. The Congregational Library is located in Westminster College, Cambridge, and all book and printed material will be ordered here. There is also a temporary reading room situated in the hall of Trinity Congregational Chapel, London SW2 1NF, and manuscript material may be ordered here if preferred. If you have particular access requirements please contact the Librarian prior to your visit.
On arrival
If coming to Cambridge, please sign in at Westminster College’s reception desk and ask for Jacqueline Reiter, the Congregational Librarian. Please leave any hats/coats on the stand outside the reading room. You may bring bags into the reading room with you, but please keep them on the floor. Please do not consume any food or drink in the reading room and wash your hands before using the collection.
Requesting materials
Requests for items from the collection should be emailed to library staff. Please give us two weeks’ notice as books and manuscripts will need to be called out of storage and delivered to Westminster College or the Brixton reading room. The Library’s catalogue of printed books is available online at https://cong.koha-ptfs.co.uk/. Lists of the Library’s manuscript and archive collections can be found on the library’s web site at https://conglib.ac.uk/. Please feel free to discuss your research subject with library staff, as they may be able to suggest resources that you have not considered.
We ask that you bring a passport or photographic national identity card or photographic driving licence, and one other item such as a bank statement, utility bill or tax correspondence evidencing your current address. A limit of three items can normally be ordered on one day, unless by special arrangement with archive staff. New manuscript/rare book readers will be requested to undergo a 10-minute training session on how to handle manuscripts and rare books.
Conduct in the reading room
No pens, erasers or coloured pencils are allowed in the Reading Room. If you need to borrow a pencil, please speak with the librarian.
No food or drink (including water, chewing gum, and cough sweets) is permitted.
Readers wishing to use electronic devices (laptops, tablets etc.) will be accommodated where possible, but use will be at their own risk. Mobile phones must be set to silent; personal audio devices must not be audible to others and the use of video or audio recording devices is not permitted.
You are responsible for safeguarding the condition of all items delivered to you. If you need advice on handling fragile materials, please ask the library staff. Before leaving for the day, please be prepared to show any items to the library staff to be checked.