Bodleian Library

There's something about knowing how many brilliant schoars have read and thought and researched and created at Oxford University that just made being there make me feel smarter. Today we toured the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, one of the preeminent reserach libraries in the world.

The Bodleian opened in 1480, consisting largely of a collection of manuscripts donated by Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, however during the upheaval surrounding King Henry VII's split from the Catholic Church, nearly all of the collection in the library was destroyed, "tossed out the window" according to our guide Mr. John Cross. Around the turn of the 16th century, Sir Thomas Bodley returend to Oxford to find the old library at the Divinity School abandoned, empty, and falling apart. he told the University -- if you give me the facility, I'll turn it into Britain's finest research library. As you can imagine, the University could hardly turn down an offer like that. The Bodleian was reistablished in 1602, and today holds more than 7 million volumes. One interesting note: in addition to developing a world-class collection and facility, Sir Bodley also introduced one of the first forms of modern cataloging in Britain.

Today, there is an extension to the original Bodleian Library across the street; the two are connected by an underground tunnel, and both contain underground floors full of stacks and collections. Researchers request material from one of the many subject-related reading rooms; requests are sent to the appropriate staff who then retrieve the items and send them to the appropriate room along a mechanical conveyor system that's been in use since 1938.

The Bodleian, much like the British Library, is a legal depository and has the distinction of becoming the nation's first legal deposit in the 1600s. In other words, a copy of every piece of material published in the United Kingdom is sent to the Bodleian, although unlike the British Library, the Bodleian is not required to keep everything that gets sent to them. Making for some very tough weeding decisions, I would imagine. Mr. Cross told a story that illustrates this well: During the time of Shakespeare, the Bodleian Library owned a copy of Shakespeare's first folio. When the third edition of this work was published, the library thought it was a nicer copy, so they sold the first edition for £25. Talk about hindsight being 20/20!

The Bodleian contains some unique collections and items, and a wealth of source material, which is key to the importance and success of the library as a research entity. More than 54,000 readers' tickets are validated on an average day at the Bodleian.

Photograph copied from the Bodleian Library web site.