Oxford University plans to revitalise the east end of Broad Street with a £50m scheme to take the New Bodleian Library into the 21st century.

Oxford University library services has asked architects Wilkinson Eyre to produce plans that will make the building accessible to the public, with a café and exhibition space on the ground floor.

Library services acting deputy director David Perrow said: "The aim is to make the university less remote to the public."

The building, opened by King George VI in 1940, does not meet modern fire safety regulations and must be totally revamped.

The plan would see land outside the building lowered to pavement level and the creation of a new public square.

If plans get approval from the university ruling body and city planners, work will start in 2010, with a finishing date of 2013.

Elsewhere in the city, a consortium has said it has won backing for a scheme to develop the Castle Mill area of Jericho.

A consortium formed by Oxford anthropologist Peter Strong wants to mark Jericho's links with the Victorian art and architectural critic, social reformer, poet and artist John Ruskin.

The Guild of St George, a charitable Trust established by Ruskin in 1871, is expected to provide funding so a planning application can go ahead.

Clive Wilmer, a director of the St Guild of St George, said: "We are a small charity. But we believe that this is something we should identify with."

Spring Residential has bought the site from British Waterways, whose decision to sell the Castle Mill boatyard sparked months of protest from boaters and local people.

The developer has been consulting on plans to build 55 one and two bedroom flats, a canalside piazza and a new canal bridge.

Ruskin was a professor of art at Oxford University and Ruskin College was named in his honour.