This is the principal library of the University of Oxford. It is one of the six national copyright libraries, and is not a lending library. It consists of three main buildings in the centre of the city, and dependent libraries in three other buildings. To become a reader you must be formally admitted in the Bodleian's Admissions Office in the Clarendon Building (Broad St). On this occasion, matriculated members of the University are required to wear gowns.

Informal instruction for readers on the use of the catalogues and reference works is given three times a week during Noughth to Third week of Michaelmas Term (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, 9.30 - 10.30 am) and less frequently during the rest of the year. Instruction in the use of the OLIS online catalogue is also provided, as is help with the use of the catalogues to the manuscript collections. Notices displayed in the Bodleian and other Oxford libraries give details of the dates and times of these sessions, and those wishing to attend should sign up in advance on lists held by the porter on the south side of the entrance hall to the Old Library.

In addition, the series of seminars on "Beginning research in Modern History: an introduction to sources and techniques", organized by the Director of Graduate Studies, includes talks by members of the Bodleian Library staff. For graduate students working in Commonwealth, Latin American and US History, or in Economic and Social History, similar advice is given in the series of seminars on sources and methods organized, also in Michaelmas term, by the Commonwealth historians (for Commonwealth, Latin American and US History) and by Professor Avner Offer (for Economic and Social History).

The leaflet How to use the Bodleian Library (The Reader's Guide) contains a plan of the Library, details of the subjects covered in the various reading rooms, information on how to find books and periodicals, including a description of what is contained in the different parts of the catalogue and how to order material from the bookstack, and information on services offered by the Library. New readers receive a copy of this guide when they are formally admitted to the Library. It is also available in reading rooms.

There is no complete catalogue for all Oxford libraries. The OLIS (Oxford Library System) online catalogue contains information on the holdings of libraries from the date when they began contributing to it. Libraries that have all their holdings listed in the online catalogue include: the English Faculty Library, History Faculty Library, Modern Languages Faculty Library, Social Studies Library, Theology Faculty Library and Hooke Library. Bodleian Library material, including material in the dependent libraries (Rhodes House Library, the Radcliffe Science Library, the Law Library, and the Indian Institute Library), that has been catalogued since September 1988 is included in the OLIS catalogue; earlier material is gradually being added. This catalogue, which can be searched by title, publisher, and subject as well as by author, can be consulted on terminals in all reading rooms, and in the History Faculty Library.

Bodleian material that is not listed in the OLIS online catalogue, including that in dependent libraries, is listed in one of the two parts of the General Catalogue, which is housed in the Lower Reading Room Catalogue and General Reference Section: (1) Pre-1920 catalogue for pre-1920 publications and periodicals which started before 1920 (now also available on CD-Rom, available in the library, which can be searched by title as well as by author); (2) Post-1920 publications: works, including periodicals, published from 1920 onwards and catalogued up to early 1987. The General Catalogue lists books by or about people under their names, and periodicals are entered under their titles. There is no subject index. Material on open access is marked with letter codes indicating the location, and separate card catalogues in the reading room concerned give the exact shelf mark. Most of the books you will need will, however, be kept in the stack, and will have to be ordered up.

A list of periodicals on open access in the Old and New Libraries and the Radcliffe Camera is available in all reading rooms. A microfiche union catalogue of foreign Humanities and Social Sciences periodicals in Oxford libraries is kept in the Lower Reading Room Catalogue and General Reference Section. This is no longer kept up to date. A microfiche union catalogue of scientific periodicals in Oxford has also now lapsed, though it is still useful for journals published up to 1988.

There is a card catalogue for foreign dissertations up to 1973 held by the Bodleian in the Patristics Section of the Lower Reading Room. For the period since 1973 they are incorporated in the General Catalogue. Successful Oxford D.Phil., M.Litt., and M.Phil. theses are deposited in the Bodleian. Card catalogues for them are kept in Duke Humfrey's Library; since c. 1975 they are also listed on OLIS. Theses from other universities can normally be obtained through the inter-library loan system.

If you have any difficulty finding what you want please ask a librarian; for this purpose, the inquiry desk in the Catalogue and General Reference Section is the most useful point of contact.

In most reading areas personal computers may be used at the discretion of the superintendent, although their use is normally restricted to designated areas of a room.

The main sections of the Bodleian Library complex are:

The Old Bodleian Library is the main centre for research on Medieval, Renaissance, Early Modern, and many Modern subjects. Besides the catalogues, this building contains reading rooms for classical and Byzantine studies (Lower Reading Room), Patristic and Medieval Latin studies (Lower Reading Room), English Literature and History, including the major historical journals and bibliographical collections (Upper Reading Room). Manuscripts and early (pre-1640) printed books are normally read in Duke Humfrey's Library, which also houses material on palaeography and world-wide library catalogues of manuscripts and early printed books as well as reference works for medieval history and collections on English local history. Modern manuscript material is for the most part read in Room 132 in the New Bodleian Library.

The Radcliffe Camera (Catte Street/Radcliffe Square) contains books selected primarily for the use of undergraduates. The open shelves on the upper floor carry mainly standard historical works, the majority of which are not found elsewhere in the Bodleian Library; books on Ecclesiastical History, Biblical Studies, and English Literature are to be found on the lower floor. The Camera also houses a certain number of periodicals, some of which are duplicated elsewhere, as well as Hansard, Statutes and Public General Acts, and the I.U.P. reprints of nineteenth-century British parliamentary papers. On open access in the underground area of the Camera are a range of Western European parliamentary papers and publications of international organizations. A separate hand-out for this material is available. The individual lists of archives produced by the National Register of Archives are also housed here; a handlist of them is kept in Duke Humfrey's Library. For those engaged in Latin-American studies, the lower floor provides a useful specialist area.

The New Bodleian Library (Parks Road) contains the Politics, Philosophy, and Economics Reading Room on the first floor: material on open access in this room is being added to the OLIS online catalogue. The building also contains the Oriental Studies Reading Room; the Slavonic and East European Studies Reading Room; the Map Room, with Geography periodicals and books on open shelves, including some Southern Asian material; the Music Reading Room; and (on the top floor) the Indian Institute Library. Room 132 is on the ground floor; here, the Library's collections of unbound and/or uncatalogued collections of modern historical and literary archives and papers, together with certain other special manuscript and printed book collections and printed ephemera, are read. A room in which readers may use their own typewriters for specific short-term projects is available in this building, but permission must be obtained in advance.

Rhodes House Library (South Parks Road) is the principal library for books and periodicals on Commonwealth (excluding South Asia) and American history. It also contains material for African history and the history of the Pacific. Its holdings include current overseas newspapers such as the International Herald Tribune. Runs of the New York Times (with its invaluable annual index) are held on microfilm.

Radcliffe Science Library (Parks Road) receives all new works on the history of science, medicine, and technology, especially those with a strong scientific or technical content. As the University's depository for scientific books and journals, including those received by the Bodleian Library under the copyright system, it is particularly important for students working on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It houses excellent runs of scientific periodicals and, in the Lankester Room, a useful open-shelf section containing books and journals covering all aspects and periods of the history of science, medicine, and technology. Although the Radcliffe Science Library has some early material, most scientific books dating from before about 1800 are to be found in the Old Bodleian Library.

The Law Library (St Cross Buildings, Manor Road) contains statutes, and material on legal history, as well as many books on constitutional and legal history, almost all of which are on open access.

The Indian Institute Library. This is housed on the top floor of the New Bodleian Library. All its books are on open access.

The Oriental Institute Library (Pusey Lane) holds fine collections of Near Eastern and Far Eastern Literature.

The Nissan Institute and Bodleian Japanese Library (27 Winchester Road) is the major resource for Japanese history and Japan studies in general.

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