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This #NationalFishingMonth, explore the creative bond between Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes, and Barrie Cooke. Our exhibition, Living Water, brings their friendship to life through letters, manuscripts, and art inspired by a shared love for water and fishing! More info: https://loom.ly/64SyJug

This summer has been a challenging time for gardeners! ☀️🌱 We have a hosepipe ban in the East of England, so our Conservation team have diligently been watering the Dye Garden by hand. It may look rather dry, but we have successfully harvested hollyhock flowers and woad seeds.🌿👩‍🌾

Visiting the UL? Take a moment to pause and appreciate the artwork by Susan Derges, currently on display in the North and South Corridors. 🏛️ 🛍️ A limited-edition Susan Derges print is available in our shop! 📍Susan’s artwork is on display until December 2026. #LivingWater

⚠️ Notice for Today (Wed 29 July): The Reader Services desk in the Main Reading Room has moved to The Commonwealth Room. Please head there for all book distribution and enquiries. The Main Reading Room is still open as a study space. Keep cool and stay safe, everyone!

These papyrus fragments of Homer's Odyssey date to the 2nd century CE! They were written in Egypt – using early Greek uncial script, a well-practised formal bookhand of the time – roughly 800 years after the original versions of the Odyssey were composed (around 700–650 BCE). MS Add.4074

The women’s suffrage movement certainly understood the power of the print. We have a remarkable collection of their posters in our collections. 🎬 Watch the video here & read the full story: loom.ly/kKvTELg We’ll be sharing more content from this collection later this week!

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Our exhibition, Living Water, will be closed on Tuesday 28 July for our mid-run page-turn. When the exhibition reopens on Wednesday 29 July, visitors will see some new content on display – including several new letters, sketches and artworks! 🔎 For opening times: https://loom.ly/64SyJug

It’s never too late to return a library book... even after 60 years. This book recently came back to the library after six decades out in the wild! Just graduated and forgotten to return a book? If you can’t make it back to Cambridge, use our freepost returns service: https://loom.ly/wf0LwIs

The Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2026 have begun! 🥇 Scotland has hosted the Games on four occasions: Edinburgh twice, in 1970 and 1986, and Glasgow twice, in 2014 and this year. These leaflets from the Royal Commonwealth Society Collections at the UL are from the 1970 Edinburgh Games (RCS 1-11f).

Women, Water and Wellbeing 🌊 Join us for an online event that explores the power of water. Our panel will share the moments that shaped their relationship with water and inspired a deep sense of belonging. 📅Tuesday 25 August ⏰7-8pm 📍 Online 🎟️ Free & open to all: https://loom.ly/sKnsc6E

Today marks 100 years since Rudyard Kipling donated a manuscript of his poem ‘If—' to Cambridge University Library. Later this year, the manuscript will go on display at Kipling’s family home, Bateman’s in Sussex. MS Add.6850. England, c. 1910

We think this is a medieval footie fan off to apply liberal use of vuvuzela. England fans may be glumly updating the lyrics of Three Lions (64 years of hurt!) but we hope you enjoy the last World Cup weekend. Image: Fragmentary Psalter (MS Add. 4085). Flanders, late 13th or early 14th C.

Many years ago, a snake shed its skin in Norfolk. A clergyman and naturalist, Revett Sheppard, found it and pasted it into his ‘Naturalist’s Calendar’. Sheppard (1779-1830) began his ‘Naturalist’s Calendar’ in 1798, when he was a young student in Cambridge. #WorldSnakeDay MS Add.9839/22/1

Summer nights at Vauxhall Gardens: the scene of many a debauched Regency romance! Which brings us neatly to this month's Really Popular Book Club choice: Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer. 📅28 July ⏰7-8pm 📍Online 🎟️ https://loom.ly/v5CD4a0 🎨The Microcosm of London, 1808 (Harley-Mason.a.3-5)

Visiting Cambridge this summer? Add our exhibition, Living Water: Poetry, Art and the Fight for Clean Rivers, to your itinerary! The exhibition is hosted across Cambridge University Library and Pembroke College. 🎟️ FREE entry 🔗 https://loom.ly/64SyJug

A 'Red Admirable', which we now call a Red Admiral! From Drawings of English Butterflies by Sir Thomas Gage (1781–1820) Vol. I, 1799 (Hengrave 61).

Accurate representation of us watching an England World Cup match. How about you? Anxious mess, or riding the rollercoaster with your hands in the air? 👇 The nervous lion is from the Cambridge University Library Bestiary MS Ii.4.26, an English manuscript from the early 13th century.

Wimbledon finals beckon! Whether you're on the courts, the sidelines, or the sofa, we hope it's a grand slam of a weekend 🎾 The two dapper ducks are from Cecil Aldin's Merry Party (1913) CUL 1913.9.183

This month's Really Popular Book Club choice is Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer. Join us to discuss the novel with Heyer superfan, Dr Emily Clarke, University of Cambridge. 📅Tuesday 28 July 2026 ⏰7pm to 8pm 📍 Hosted online 🎟️ Free and open to all: https://loom.ly/v5CD4a0

Congratulations to @rbrks.bsky.social, the 2026 Gordon Duff Prize winner 🥇 Find out more about the annual Prize and this year's winning essay: https://loom.ly/xZZOdOc