A team from Oxford's Bodleian Library triumphed in the final of University Challenge: The Professionals.

Millions of BBC2 viewers tuned in last night to watch the Oxford University librarians beat the Royal Statistical Society 230-125 in the match, hosted by Jeremy Paxman.

The librarians kept their nerve after a nail-biting first half when it remained neck and neck. The Bodleian team was captained by Mike Heaney, the executive secretary for the university's library service, who admitted that representing an institution with 408 years of learning behind it brought its own pressures.

He said: "We knew that a lot of expectations would ride on a team representing so prestigious and scholarly an institution as the Bodleian.

"We put a lot of effort into practising for the quiz and it paid off. We have all found the whole experience tremendously enjoyable. I think Jeremy Paxman was rather gentler with us than he tends to be with the student teams."

The team was chosen from among the 700 staff in a competition, which saw would-be contestants having to answer 100 questions in a set time. Mr Heaney said: "We finished up with a diverse team in terms of age, experience and the number of different Bodleian libraries represented."

Joining Mr Heaney in the final line-up were Dorjana Sirola, of the Sackler Library, John Wilby, of the Oriental Collections, and Bob Wyatt, of the Radcliffe Science Library. Gillian Beattie, of the Social Science Library, was the reserve.

The award was presented by historian Dr David Starkey, who spoke of the result as a victory for the values and worth of libraries and books. On the way to the final, the Bodleian Library beat the Society of Antiquaries, captained by Loyd Grossman, by 190-80. In the semi-final, the Bodleian achieved a record 295-70 victory for the grown-up' version of University Challenge, against the Crime Writers' Association.

It was a second University Challenge triumph for Dorjana Sirola. She was a member of the Somerville College team which won in the 2002 student series.

She said: "The questions were certainly harder than the ones I had faced as a student."

The television quiz was recorded in March and the librarians had to remain silent about their success. The Bodleian is planning to host a party to celebrate when the new university year begins.

The former Wantage MP Robert Jackson appeared in the semi-final for the defeated Prospect magazine.