Wren Library is open for students to visit during our opening hours (from 9am – 5pm on weekdays, and on Saturdays from 9am – 1pm during term time). There does not need to be a particular or ‘special’ reason for your visit. The Wren would have been the working library for undergraduates when it was first designed, so you are always welcome to come and have a look around.

Just remember, we don’t allow food or drink, and please keep noise at a low level for the staff and researchers working there.

Just head in through the main library entrance as normal and head up the stairs to the landing outside the toilets. From there, just take the stairs on the right and head through the big door into the library. There will always be staff at the entrance to both the College Library and the Wren Library if you have any questions.

If you see queues outside the big entrance door around midday don’t be alarmed about coming in through the College Library! We are open to tourists and other colleges from 12pm – 2pm on weekdays.

The books on display rotate regularly, but highlights include A.A Milne’s manuscript of The House at Pooh Corner, Isaac Newton’s annotated copy of Principia Mathematica and one of Shakespeare’s first folios. Just lift up the fabric that protects the items from the light and take a look.

You are welcome to bring up to 5 guests into the Wren library during our regular opening hours, just please remember to email us beforehand if your group is larger and supervise your guests at all times.

Both graduate and undergraduate students at Trinity are welcome to use our collections as any other researcher might do. This might be particularly relevant if you have a research project or dissertation.

The whole of the collection is split mainly into 3 searchable catalogues: on Vufind (for printed texts), the Catalogue of Modern Manuscripts (for manuscripts and college archives) and the James Catalogue of Western Manuscripts (for medieval manuscripts). Your tutors should be able to help guide your research, and you can email our librarians and archivists for advice if you are unsure of where to look.

The Wren Digital Library can also be a great starting area for research. A huge number of texts are now publicly accessible, and you can search for them here.

If you have found a text that you would like see, head to this page for more information on booking a research appointment, or chat to any of the library staff for guidance.

Although the Wren is only available for those consulting special collections most of the year, we want the Wren to be used as much as possible. This means that during Easter term we create additional study spaces for students to revise in. Just before the term starts, we will share all the necessary details.