Richard Ovenden

Oxford Mail:

Bodley’s Librarian, the Bodleian Libraries

The University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library is one of the most iconic libraries in the world and has been a resource for scholars for more than 400 years.

Oxford residents are likely familiar with the Old Library in Catte Street and our landmark buildings such as the Radcliffe Camera but may not be aware of the range and scope of our collections and how they can explore them for themselves.

In 1602 the university library opened with a collection of some 2,500 books.

Today the Bodleian is home to more than 11 million items, encompassing more than 150 miles of shelving held in 30 libraries. Our historic collections range from fragments of ancient papyrus in the Sackler Library in St John Street, to the latest medical journals available through the Cairns Library at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

The Bodleian holds an incredible range of materials: one of the largest concentrations of modern British political manuscripts and archives, almost two million maps, the unparalleled John Johnson collection of printed ephemera, four engrossments of Magna Carta, and Shakespeare’s First Folio.

We also hold more than seven million electronic articles and an ever increasing amount of digitised material.

Visitors and residents have always shown a curiosity about the Bodleian and what is held in our collections; I often get asked about specific items as well as the passageways under the Old Library.

Throughout its history the Bodleian has found different ways to display its items, beginning in the 17th century when Thomas Bodley asked that a display cabinet be reserved for items that were “most singular and rare”.

More recently, we have run a successful programme of exhibitions in our gallery in the Old Schools Quadrangle.

This desire to share our collect-ions with more widely was a motivating force behind the refur-bished Weston Library in Broad Street.

The transformation of the post-war New Bodleian – a pioneering book depository in its day – to the new 21st-century home of the Bodleian’s special collections, created a world-class space for scholars and a state-of-the-art storage environment for our historic materials.

But the aim was also to create a public space for visitors and residents and so the Library was opened up onto Broad Street and a stunning 13.5 metre-high space named Blackwell Hall (acknowledging the generosity of Julian Blackwell) was created along with two exhibition galleries, a café and shop.

Since our public opening on March 21 this year, we have welcomed more than 230,000 visitors to the Weston Library and have had fantastic reviews for our opening exhibition, Marks of Genius.

It has been exciting to see visitors exploring our collections, viewing topical displays on subjects such as Magna Carta and Alice in Wonderland and enjoying this new space. On October 23 we will be opening a new exhibition, Armenia: Masterpieces from an Enduring Culture.

We will also have a new display in our second gallery, the Treasury, at the end of the year.

A programme of regular events – such as the very popular demonstrations of our historic printing press – now run in Blackwell Hall and more events will be taking place in the library over the coming months.

For those who are not able to visit our exhibitions and events, there are new ways to explore the Bodleian’s wealth of materials. Over the past 20 years, the Bodleian has been digitising its books, maps and manuscripts and making these available online.

We are now gathering all these digitised collections into one easy-to-use website called digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

Here scholars and curious members of the public alike can view a diverse range of stunning images, find out more about the Bodleian’s incredible historic collections, and even curate their own customised image collections within the website.

It is an exciting time for us here at Bodleian Libraries and I would welcome comments from members of the public by emailing me at bodleys.librarian@bodleian.ox.ac.uk