Bodleian Library

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Library entrance, with the coats of arms of various Oxford colleges

The Bodleian Library ( Bodleiana ) is the main library at Oxford University . It is one of the six legal deposit libraries in the United Kingdom , where the rules of the legal deposit each printed in the country work must be paid. The library is in close proximity to the Sheldonian Theater and the Clarendon Building .

The library currently comprises around 9 million units on 176 kilometers of shelves, including more than 6.5 million volumes. This makes it the second largest library in the country. 2500 readers find a reading place in it at the same time.

Following the renaming of Oxford University Library Services on March 2, 2010 to Bodleian Libraries , the Oxford University Library System comprises over 100 branch libraries, of which the Bodleian Library is responsible for around 40 libraries.

Richard Ovenden has been the library director as Bodley's Librarian since 2014 .

history

The Bodleian Library (officially Bodley's Library , Latin "Bibliotheca Bodleiana" or shorter "Bodleiana", internally just "the Bod") was opened in 1602 with a collection of 2000 books. Thomas Bodley from Merton College books had gathered to replace the library that the Divinity School of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester , a brother of King Henry V had been donated. This had been dispersed in the 16th century.

The first librarian was Thomas James and the library directors were named Bodley's Librarian . Your catalog from 1605 is the oldest printed library catalog in England and was compiled by James. It was organized by subject matter and was replaced by an alphabetical catalog volume by James in 1620.

The "Old Schools Quadrangle"

In 1610, Bodley agreed with the Stationers' Company in London that a copy of each registered book should be given to the library. The collection grew so quickly that the first expansion of the library building 1610–1612 was required, and another 1634–1637. When John Selden died, he left his large collection of books and manuscripts to the Bodleian.

The regulation that is still valid today, according to which students must swear not to set a fire in the library, also dates from this early period. Only then are they allowed to use the Bod.

In 1911, the agreement with Stationers was continued by the Copyright Act . The Bodleian became one of the UK libraries to have a copyrighted right to one copy of each book (see: Legal Deposit ). Unlike the British Library , the Bodleian, as well as Cambridge University Library , the National Library of Scotland , the Trinity College Library , Dublin, and the National Library of Wales (Welsh National Library) have to request the works from the publishers.

Two floors of books opened next to the Radcliffe Camera and Radcliffe Square in 1913 . A new large building including a reading room, the New Bodleian Building, was built in the 1930s. A tunnel under Broad Street connects the old library with the new one. The footpath runs along the books for the pneumatic tube , System Lamson.

Library stamp in a book from 1830

structure

Today the Bodleian includes several library stacks outside the main building as well as nine other libraries in the city:

  • the Bodleian Japanese Library
  • the Bodleian Law Library
  • the Hooke Library
  • the Indian Institute Library
  • the Oriental Institute Library
  • the Philosophy Library
  • the Radcliffe Science Library
  • the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies in the Rhodes House
  • the Vere Harmsworth Library

Digital future

The Bodleian Library is involved in the Oxford Digital Library (ODL) project. The ODL was set up to build the technical infrastructure for online access to the library collections. The Bodleian Library offers support in setting up the "JournalServer" Open Access Digital Library and provides resources on the "Oxford Digital Library Servers". The Oxford Digital Library started in July 2001 and has a large collection of digital archives.

Trivia

The Bodleian Library in Film: The library's architecture made it a preferred location for filmmakers. She appears in The Madness of King George (1994) and the first two Harry Potter films in which the Divinity School plays the role of Hogwarts Hospital and the Duke Humphrey's Library plays the role of the Hogwarts library.

Web links

Commons : Bodleian Library  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ OULS changes name to BODLEIAN LIBRARIES , accessed on March 25, 2011
  2. ↑ A Brief Survey of Oxford University Libraries ( Memento of the original from March 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in English, accessed March 25, 2011  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Coordinates: 51 ° 45 ′ 14 "  N , 1 ° 15 ′ 18"  W.