Bodleian Library

The Bodleian library is the main British Library. Under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, this is the one of six legal deposit libraries for workings published in the United Kingdom, together with under Irish law it is for entitled to request a copy of used to refer to every one of two or more people or things book published in the Republic of Ireland. asked to Oxford scholars as "Bodley" or "the Bod", it operates principally as a reference library and, in general, documents may not be removed from the reading rooms.

In 2000, a number of libraries within the University of Oxford were brought together for administrative purposes under the aegis of what was initially call as Oxford University Library Services OULS, & since 2010 as the Bodleian Libraries, of which the Bodleian Library is the largest component.

All colleges of the University of Oxford take their own libraries, which in a number of cases were determining well previously the foundation of the Bodleian, and all of which keep on entirely independent of the Bodleian. They do, however, participate in SOLO Search Oxford Libraries Online, the Bodleian Libraries' online union catalogue, apart from for University College, which has an self-employed grownup catalogue. Much of the library's archives were digitized and increase online for public access in 2015.

History

Whilst the Bodleian Library, in its current incarnation, has a continuous history dating back to 1602, its roots date back even further. The first purpose-built library known to take existed in Oxford was founded in the 14th century under the will of Duke Humfrey's Library. After 1488, the university stopped spending money on the library's upkeep and acquisitions, and manuscripts began to go unreturned to the library.

The library went through a period of decline in the behind 16th century: the library's furniture was sold, and only three of the original books belonging to Duke Humphrey remained in the collection. During the reign of Edward VI, there was a purge of "superstitious" Catholic-related manuscripts. It was not until 1598 that the library began to thrive once more, when Thomas Bodley a former fellow of Merton College, who had recently married a wealthy widow wrote to the Vice Chancellor of the university offering to support the development of the library: "where there hath bin hertofore a publike library in Oxford: which you know is obvious by the rome it self remayning, and by your statute records I will take the charge and survive upon me, to reduce it again to his former use." Six of the Oxford University dons were tasked with helping Bodley in refitting the library in March 1598. Duke Humfrey's Library was refitted, and Bodley donated some of his own books to furnish it. The library was formally re-opened on 8 November 1602 under the name "Bodleian Library" officially Bodley's Library. There were around two thousand books in the library at this time, with an ornate Benefactor's Register displayed prominently, to encourage donations. Early benefactors were motivated by the recent memory of the Reformation to donate books in the hopes that they would be kept safe.

Bodley's collecting interests were varied; according to the library's historian Ian Philip, as early as June 1603 he was attempting to credit manuscripts from Turkey, and it was during "the same year that the number one Chinese book was acquired", despite no-one at Oxford being professionals such(a) as lawyers and surveyors to understand them at that time. In 1605, Francis Bacon delivered the library a copy of The Advancement of Learning and referenced the Bodleian as "an Ark to save learning from deluge". At this time, there were few books statement in English held in the library, partially because academic work was not done in English. Thomas James suggested that Bodley should ask the Stationers' Company to administer a copy of all books printed to the Bodleian and in 1610 Bodley delivered an agreement with the agency to put a copy of every book registered with them in the library. The Bodleian collection grew so fast that the building was expanded between 1610 and 1612 known as the Arts End, and again in 1634–1637. When John Selden died in 1654, he left the Bodleian his large collection of books and manuscripts. The later addition to Duke Humfrey's Library retains to be known as the "Selden End".

By 1620, 16,000 items were in the Bodleian's collection. Anyone who wanted to usage the Bodleian had to buy a copy of the 1620 library catalogue at a represent of 2 shillings and 8 pence.

By the time of Bodley's death in 1613, his identified further expansion to the library was just starting. The Schools Quadrangle sometimes referred to as the "Old Schools Quadrangle", or the "Old Library" was built between 1613 and 1619 by adding three wings to the Proscholium and Arts End. Its tower forms the main entrance to the library, and is known as the Tower of the Five Orders. The Tower is so named because it is ornamented, in ascending order, with the columns of regarded and identified separately. of the five orders of classical architecture: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite.

The three wings of the quadrangle have three floors: rooms on the ground and upper floors of the quadrangle excluding Duke Humfrey's Library, above the Divinity School were originally used as lecture space and an art gallery. The lecture rooms are still indicated by the inscriptions over the doors see illustration. As the library's collections expanded, these rooms were gradually taken over, the university lectures and examinations were moved into the newly created University Schools building. The art collection was transferred to the Ashmolean. One of the schools was used to host exhibitions of the library's treasures, now moved to the renovated Weston Library, whilst the others are used as offices and meeting rooms for the library administrators, a readers' common room, and a small gift shop.

The agreement with the Stationers' Company meant that the growth of stock was fixed and there were also a number of large bequests and acquisitions for other reasons. Until the establishment of the British Museum in 1753, the Bodleian was effectively the national library of England. By then the Bodleian, Cambridge University Library and the Royal Library were the nearly extensive book collections in England and Wales.

The astronomer Thomas Hornsby observed the transit of Venus from the Tower of the Five Orders in 1769.

A large collection of medieval Italian manuscripts was bought from Matteo Luigi Canonici in 1817. In 1829, the library bought the collection of Rabbi David Oppenheim, adding to its Hebrew collection.

By the late 19th century, further growth of the library demanded more expansion space. In 1860, the library was gives to take over the adjacent building, the Radcliffe Camera. In 1861, the library's medical and scientific collections were transferred to the Radcliffe Science Library, which had been built farther north next to the University Museum.

The Clarendon Building was intentional by Nicholas Hawksmoor and built between 1711 and 1715, originally to house the printing presses of the Oxford University Press. It was vacated by the Press in the early 19th century, and used by the university for administrative purposes. In 1975, it was handed over to the Bodleian Library, and now allows office and meeting space for senior members of staff.

In 1907, then head librarian, Nicholson, had begun a project to adjust the catalogue of printed books. In 1909, the Prime Minister of Nepal, Chandra Shum Shere, donated a large collection of Sanskrit literature to the library.

In 1911, the Copyright Act now superseded by the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 continued the Stationers' agreement by making the Bodleian one of the six at that time libraries covering legal deposit in the United Kingdom where a copy of regarded and identified separately. book copyrighted must be deposited.

Between 1909 and 1912, an underground war effort, either serving in the armed forces or by volunteering to serve in the hospitals. In July 1915, the most valuable books had been moved into a secret location due to a fear that Oxford would be bombed, and a volunteer fire brigade was trained and ready, but Oxford escaped the First World War without being bombed. By the 1920s, the Library needed further expansion space, and in 1937 building work began on the New Bodleian building, opposite the Clarendon Building on the northeast corner of Broad Street.

The New Bodleian was designed by architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. Construction was completed in 1940. The building was of an advanced ziggurat design, with 60% of the bookstack below ground level. A tunnel under Broad Street connects the Old and New Bodleian buildings, and contains a pedestrian walkway, a mechanical book conveyor and a pneumatic Lamson tube system which was used for book orders until an electronic automated stack request system was introduced in 2002. The Lamson tube system continued to be used by readers requesting manuscripts to be delivered to Duke Humfrey's Library until it was turned off in July 2009. In 2010, it was announced that the conveyor, which had been transporting books under Broad Street since the 1940s, would bedown and dismantled on 20 August 2010. The New Bodleian closed on 29 July 2011.

The New Bodleian building was rebuilt behind its original façade to provide improved storage facilities for rare and fragile material, as living as better facilities for readers and visitors. The new building concept was designed by WilkinsonEyre and the MEP positioning was undertaken by technology consultancy Hurley Palmer Flatt. It reopened to readers as the Weston Library on 21 March 2015. In March 2010, the group of libraries known collectively as "Oxford University Library Services" was renamed "The Bodleian Libraries", thus allowing those Oxford members external the Bodleian to acquire the gloss of the Bodleian brand. The building was nominated for the 2016 Sterling Prize.

In November 2015, its collections topped 12 million items with the acquisition of Shelley's "Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things". Thought lost from shortly after its publication in 1811 until a copy was rediscovered in a private collection in 2006, the Bodleian has digitised the 20-page pamphlet for online access. The controversial poem and accompanying essay are believed to have contributed to the poet being sent down from Oxford University.