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ARTS, CULTURE & TOURISM
Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3BG
01865 277000
BODLEIAN
LIBRARIES
The Bodleian Library, the
main research library of the
University of Oxford, is one of
the oldest libraries in Europe,
having been a library of legal
deposit for 400 years. With
over 12 million items, it is
the second largest library
in Britain after the British
Library. Under the Legal
Deposit Libraries Act 2003,
it is one of six legal deposit
libraries for works published
in the United Kingdom and
under Irish Law it is entitled to
request a copy of each book
published in the Republic
of Ireland. Known 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. The beautiful
and historic library holds
over
80,000
e-journals
and
outstanding
special
collections including rare
books
and
manuscripts,
classical papyri, maps, music,
art and printed ephemera.
Members of the public can
explore the collections via the
Bodleian’s online image portal
or by visiting the exhibition
galleries in the Bodleian’s
Weston Library which provide
a fascinating insight into
scholarly life through the
centuries.
