Confirming the facts

Since my last post I have spent many hours at the State Library of Victoria. The library had some books relating to the Bodleian Library’s history between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries and I was eager to confirm some facts I had found from other sources. I also looked at a beautifully presented book on the treasures of the Bodleian Library, namely manuscripts, printed in full colour. The Bodleian Library is well known for its vast collection of manuscripts and these attract scholars to the library from all over the world.

The State Library of Victoria had a copy of a Bodleian Library readers’ manual from 1939. This was an interesting item to look at as it was quite thorough in its presentation. For example some words from the manual read, “A reader may not carry a library book from the Old Library to the Camera, nor from the Camera to the Old Library, nor to or from any Dependent Library.” The “Camera” refers to the Radcliffe Camera, a circular domed building which the library obtained for their use in 1860. Another rule reads, “No book or manuscript may be placed between the reader’s pen and the inkpot.” Why, you may ask, are pens and inkpots even allowed in such a library?

I was also excited to view a copy of a Bodleian Library exhibition catalogue on the author J.R.R. Tolkien. The library presented an exhibition to commemorate the centenary of Tolkien’s birth. The catalogue was in full colour and contained Tolkien’s own drawings and sketches relating to his holidays, life and stories.

I also viewed a copy of a librarian report on the Bodleian Library in 1882-7. This report gives a brief history of the library and it verifies what I discovered elsewhere, that the original library which the Bodleian inherited was contained in St Mary’s church and housed books chained to desks – for reading on the spot!

Library Collection Searches

Wikipedia listed external links to further research the Bodleian Library which included the Oxford Digital Library. This library provides digital resources for Oxford University. They have a large list of digital collections and I intend to view some of these in order to report on the library’s holdings.

I wanted however, to continue searching for factual information about the library and so I started with searching the catalogues at the State Library of Victoria and Libraries Australia. The State Library of Victoria had many holdings about the Bodleian Library and I have reserved some items to view over the next week. The Libraries Australia catalogue listed The University of Melbourne as holding some items that the State Library Victoria does not list. Therefore I will also be investigating those holdings this week.