Oxford

My final library visit was to The Bodleian Library (the main research library of the University of Oxford, and one of nearly 40 libraries within Oxford University Library Services). Web site - http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/bodley

Outisde Oxford University's Bodleian Law Library

Now this is what our library needs -- bicycle storage at the Law Library



My contact was Ruth Bird (left in the photo) at the Bodleian Law Library (http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/law). You can see details of the law library staff at http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/law/about_us/staff. Ruth is a close in law of Peter Bird and an ex colleague of Kerry Vickers. She was asking when Peter Bird would be in Oxford.

Helen Garner (not not the author) and Angela Carritt in the Law Library staff room (yes they have one -- and any staff member who has been on holidays brings back a treat for all to share. I had some chocolate biscuits that Ruth brought from France).
Angela demonstrated some useful web 2.0 applications, as well as Primo and Metalib. You can see a blog at http://lawbod.wordpress.com and see the use of pageflakes at http://www.pageflakes.com/law.library/24255815

Oxford’s libraries are among the most celebrated in the world, not only for their incomparable collections of books and manuscripts, but also for their buildings, some of which have remained in continuous use since the Middle Ages. Among them the Bodleian, the chief among the University’s libraries, has a special place. First opened to scholars in 1602, it incorporates an earlier library erected by the University in the fifteenth century to house books donated by Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester. Since 1602 it has expanded, slowly at first but with increasing momentum over the last 150 years, to keep pace with the ever-growing accumulation of books and papers, but the core of the old buildings has remained intact
You can read about the history of the library at http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/bodley/about/history
The library room was taken over by the Faculty of Medicine in 1556 but it (the library) was rescued by Sir Thomas Bodley (1545–1613), . He married a rich widow whose husband had made a fortune from trading in pilchards and, in his retirement from public life, decided, in his own words, to ‘set up my staff at the library door ..."

The Library offers an online "Ask a librarian" service at http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/ask
This involves an online form with fields for name, enquiry etc. Enquiries can also be emailed directly to reader.services@bodley.ox.ac.uk
Some online self paced guides for database use have been developed at http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/law/services/training/database_guides. These tutorials provide instructions on the use of specific databases and the user progresses through them by clicking on a continue button. At the end of the instruction the user clicks on close this unit.
Students are welcome to use their laptops in the Library and are advised to buy a lock to secure their laptop whilst here. The Library has both an ethernet and wireless network so that they can access the WWW -- see http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/law/services/computing/laptops
The library specifies some minimum service standards for weekends and evenings. See - http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/law/services/service_standards
For example staff are expected to answer catalogue enquiries but are only able to offer help with such things as computers and printing at the discretion of the Assistant Librarian in charge on the day. Term Time Opening Hours are Monday - Friday 9am - 10pm, Saturday 10am - 6pm, Sunday 11am - 6pm.
Needless to say the visit was extremely interesting and provided me with many valuable ideas.