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Off to Oxford : The Bodleian and Christ Church Libraries

On a cloudy day we arrived in Oxford and made our way to the University of Oxford for a tour of the Bodleian Library and later in the day, Christ Church.

We were not able to take a lot of pictures of the space but it was beautiful. Ready for a few of the interesting tidbits of information??
  • In the initial room where our tour began, we were informed that the ceiling displayed the monograms of those who helped contribute to the cost of the building's construction.
  • 300 manuscripts were gifted by Duke Humphrey which were the founding collections of the library.

    • The ceiling with the monograms

    • Only 3 of these are left of the original 300
    • With the invention of printing, books replaced manuscripts
    • Thomas Bodleian was the one who organized and updated the library
  • It began the process of copyright
  • 1,000 pieces of work accepted a day
  • 500 librarians in all of the University of Oxford and its separate colleges and 300 libraries

After a lovely lunch of fish and chips at The Bear, a pub from the 13th century, we all reconvened at Christ Church. 
13th century pub in Oxford

We were led on a tour by Steven Archer, who took us behind-the-scenes to the different areas of the library and showed us a variety of amazing pieces in their collection. Their policy is to serve the students and their research needs because, as the librarians they are the stewards of the libraries but the students are the owners of the contents.

Christ Church, Oxford

One environmentally monitored room where a small part of the collection is kept. The shelves and floor tiles are also special and date back quite far into the history of the college.

Christ Church, Oxford - main library

Bible gifted to Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603)


Inside Christ Church library upper floor

Christ Church, Oxford
I also thought it was impressive that they have in-house digitization which provides excellent resources. It seems like a vast undertaking.

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