Access to special collections and archives (updated on 30th April 2025)
All items stored in the basement storage have been relocated to temporary locations following our recent plumbing issues, and remain stored in the temporary locations until further notice:
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Special collection (Israel Abraham, Owen Lattimore collection, including his uncatalogued archive)
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Journal issues and books which are marked as ‘Basement Store’ in the iDiscover catalogue
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All the archive collections
We have published a short guide containing information on the items' availability. If you would like to consult items from the above collections, please visit the page for more information.
https://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/information-about-items-relocated-temporary-locations
Opening Hours
Summer Vacation 2025 (June 23rd - October 3rd)
Monday - Friday : 9am - 1pm & 2pm - 5pm
Closed for lunch between 1pm - 2pm
Michaelmas Term 2025 (October 6th - December 5th)
Monday - Friday : 9am - 6pm
Christmas Vacation 2025 (December 8th - January 16th)
Monday - Friday : 9am - 1pm & 2pm - 5pm
Closed for lunch between 1pm - 2pm
Christmas closure: TBC
Lent Term 2026 (January 19th - March 20th)
Monday - Friday : 9am - 6pm
Easter Vacation 2026 (March 23rd - April 24th)
Monday - Friday : 9am - 1pm & 2pm - 5pm
Closed for lunch between 1pm - 2pm
Easter Term 2026 (April 27th - June 26th)
Monday - Friday : 9am - 6pm
Summer Vacation 2026 (June 29th - October 22nd)
Monday - Friday : 9am - 1pm & 2pm - 5pm
Closed for lunch between 1pm - 2pm
Contact Details
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Library
Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge CB3 9DA
Tel: +44 (0)1223 (3)35112
Email: library@ames.cam.ac.uk
The Collections
The Faculty Library contains around 70,000 monograph volumes, around 74 current journals and 1,600 DVDs. It is primarily an English (and European) language collection but there are many publications in the various Asian & Middle Eastern languages taught in the Faculty. These are Chinese, Japanese, Sanskrit, Hindi, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew. The regional scope of the Library's collections includes China, Japan, Korea and Central Asia, the Indian sub-continent (but not South-East Asia), the Middle East (including publications on Islamic North Africa). The subject content includes the languages, literature, history, philosophy, art and archaeology of the above regions from earliest times to the present. In recent years there has been a growth in the coverage of aspects of the modern world within the same regional scope, especially literature, politics, sociology and economic conditions.
The collections are arranged on a regional basis and publications in Asian and Middle Eastern languages are not classified separately. The Library houses a number of special collections and there are also slides, videos and DVDs, photographs and maps. There is an archive collection of papers of scholars of Asia and the Middle East.
The Library is primarily a working collection for students but, because of its varied origins, it also contains a great deal of valuable material relevant to research students and local, national and international scholars.
