Bodleian Library

The Newcomer's Club has started up their event calendar again now that Trinity Term has started. There are three terms to the academic year, and the spring term is called Trinity. The winter term when we arrived, was the Hilary Term and in the fall is the Michaelmas Term. The tour I missed during the winter term was one of the Bodleian Library in the city centre. The Bodleian is one of only three copyright libraries in England, which means they legally must receive one copy of every single book published in England. And they have been collecting them since the 1600s! So you can imagine the volumes of books they have in their collection. There are underground storage areas with racks of books on wheels attached to the ceiling. This is how they move them around to find some ancient copy of a book that has rarely been looked at.

I think I read a statistic that said every book in the library is read at least once every 16 years. A few other facts about the library - you cannot check out a book to take home. The books can only be read at the library. So there are many reading rooms designated for studying. And only if you are a student or employee of the University can you reserve a book to read. Therefor, Brian does not have this privilege unfortunately. Neither can I go in there, except on a paying tour (which of course is how I did). But the tour I was on was better than the standard since it was through the Newcomer's group.

Of course there is some amazing history to the building of the library, what the rooms were originally created for and it's an architectural gem. But I won't bore you with all that info, you'll have to come visit for yourself (hint, hint!) or check it out online at www.bodley.ox.ac.uk.


Note on all the photos. You're not allowed to take photos inside the actual library areas. You can in the Divinity School and University Congregation Parliament room, which is where these photos are showing.