They may not be in the building, but the Library’s team of Reference Librarians continue to be on hand to answer your questions and solve your queries. You don’t need to be a Reader to ask the team a question. So whether it’s how to get started with our digital resources or help finding a specific item, the team are here to help between 09.30 – 17.00 Monday to Friday.

X marks the spot

A recent mission: to track down one particular image of the Hereford Mappa Mundi – the largest Medieval map known to exist.

First, we check our freely available, digitised version of the book (access this right here) but it’s missing the image. Hmm. Without access to Library buildings we can’t check the physical item until we reopen.

Next. We try the academic library search engine, JISC Lib Hub. This hub gives you details about materials held in many UK national, academic and specialist libraries. And success! Cambridge University and Edinburgh University Libraries hold copies of the same book.But an even better discovery: the Hereford Mappa Mundi has been digitised and is freely available. And it’s pretty spectacular: https://sims2.digitalmappa.org/36.

Do you need us to hunt down an item for you? Contact the team >

Top tip

Using our Explore catalogue to research? To get the widest set of results, try entering related keywords or search terms. Explore now >

John Boneham

Rare Books Reference Specialist

Aurelio Patierno

Science Reference Specialist