The Bodleian Library, the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in England is second in size only to the British Library. It is one of five copyright deposit libraries in the United Kingdom.

History

The Bodleian Library (officially Bodley's Library) in Oxford, England — known informally to centuries of Oxford scholars as "the Bod" — opened in 1602 with a collection of 2000 books assembled by Thomas Bodley (of Merton College) to replace the library that had been donated to the Divinity School by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (and brother of Henry V of England), but had been dispersed in the 16th century.

In 1610, Bodley made an agreement with the Stationers' Company in London to put a copy of every book registered with them in the library. The Bodleian collection grew so fast that the first expansion of the building was required in 1610–1612, and another in 1634–1637. When John Selden died in 1654, he left the Bodleian his large collection of books and manuscripts.

In 1911, the Copyright Act continued the Stationers' agreement by making the Bodleian one of the six (at that time) libraries in the United Kingdom where a copy of each book copyrighted must be deposited. See: Legal deposit.

Two floors of bookstack opened beneath the Radcliffe Camera and Radcliffe Square in 1913, and a large new bookstack and reading room, the New Bodleian building, was built in the 1930s. A tunnel under Broad Street connects the Old and New Bodleians, and contains a pedestrian walkway, a mechanical book conveyor and a pneumatic Lamson tube system for book orders.

Tower of the Five Orders

One part of the Bodleian Library is contained in the so-called Tower of the Five Orders. The Tower is so named because it is ornamented, in ascending order, with the columns of each of the five orders of classical architecture: Doric, Tuscan, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite.

The astronomer Thomas Hornsby observed the transit of Venus from this tower in 1769.

The Library today

Today, the Bodleian includes several off-site storage areas as well as nine other libraries in Oxford:

• 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 at Rhodes House
• the Vere Harmsworth Library

The sites now contain 9 million items on 176 km of shelving, and have seats for 2500 readers.

Before being able to access the library, new readers must make the following declaration....

I hereby undertake not to remove from the Library, nor to mark, deface, or injure in any way, any volume, document or other object belonging to it or in its custody; not to bring into the Library, or kindle therein, any fire or flame, and not to smoke in the Library; and I promise to obey all rules of the Library.

.... A translation of the following traditional Latin oath:

Do fidem me nullum librum vel instrumentum aliamve quam rem ad bibliothecam pertinentem, vel ibi custodiae causa depositam, aut e bibliotheca sublaturum esse, aut foedaturum deformaturum aliove quo modo laesurum; item neque ignem nec flammam in bibliothecam inlaturum vel in ea accensurum, neque fumo nicotiano aliove quovis ibi usurum; item promitto me omnes leges ad bibliothecam Bodleianam attinentes semper observaturum esse. (Leges bibliothecae bodleianae alta voce prae legendae custodis iussu).

Digital developments

The Oxford Digital Library (ODL) is a key component of the e-strategy of Oxford University Library Services (OULS). It has been established to develop the technical infrastructure for an enhanced service, providing online access to the collections. The Bodleian Library has also offered its support for the establishment of the JournalServer open-access digital library and allocated resources on the Oxford Digital Library Servers. The Oxford Digital Library started operationally in July 2001 and has a small [http://www.odl.ox.ac.uk/collections/ collection of digital archives.

The Bodleian for some years had on its website a statement that nothing in its collection should appear online except as part of an initiative of its own, and that no permission would be granted for a photograph paid for by the user to be placed online. This policy may still be in effect, but is no longer prominent on the website. No digital photography was permitted by readers, which means that the majority of its manuscript holdings remain unrecorded. Indeed until very recently readers were not permitted to make their own photocopies, although this regulation has now been relaxed to some degree; the library is currently experimenting with allowing users to scan post-1900 material and make digital photographs under supervision.

The Bodleian Library in fiction

The Library's fine architecture has made it a favourite location for filmmakers. It can be seen in Another Country (1984), The Madness of King George III (1994) and the first two Harry Potter films, in which the Divinity School doubles as the Hogwarts hospital wing and Duke Humphrey's Library as the Hogwarts library. The Radcliffe Camera makes an appearance in The Saint (1997).

Also, the first few words of the Latin version of the reader's promise seen above (Do fidem me nullum librum vel) can be found on the linguist's hat in the 1996 mini-series Gulliver's Travels.

Since J.R.R. Tolkien, had studied philology at Oxford and eventually became a professor, he knew very much about the Red Book of Hergest which was kept at the Bodleian. and later created his own fictional Red Book of Westmarch telling the story of Lord of the Rings. Many of of Tolkien's manuscripts are now at the library themselves.

Collections include

• Carte Manuscripts

See also

• Oxford University Library System (OLIS)

External links

• Bodleian Library (official website)
• Bodleian Group

Academic libraries | University of Oxford | Buildings and structures in Oxford | Libraries in the United Kingdom | 1602 establishments

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