Riding SOLO O
xford’s libraries are amongst its most beautiful buildings, and, unfortunately, amongst the most used. They’re (usually) very pleasant places to work, and together contain over 11 million printed items, as well as vast quantities of materials in other formats. Of course, this does mean that you never have the option of claiming you cannot find a book on SOLO (the Bodleian Libraries online search facility). No doubt your tutor will point this out to you in due course, wearing a smirk worthy of Severus Snape and a gown to match. But with such a huge selection to choose from, how do you decide which library to use*? Here are some of the pros and cons...
Your college library
Cosy, and with the benefit of not having to travel far from your bed. They’re open later than the main libraries for those seeking to burn some midnight oil (many are open 24/7), and tend to be quite pretty and situated in the older parts of colleges (Catz students exchange awkward glances). You can even make a home for yourself here, if you so desire. They can be jealously guarded by finalists during exam season, who will follow you with disdainful eyes as you attempt to browse the shelves.
The (old) Bod
The key advantage of the Bod is that there are always tourists in the main quad, allowing you to stride smugly past flourishing your Bod card in as flamboyant a manner as you like/dare. It doesn’t allow you to take books out, which is irritating, but does mean that the book you want will always be available - and not enough people tend to work there for it to be likely that it’ll be in use at any particular moment. Don’t forget your Bod card though; they won’t let you in without it. Also in the building is Duke Humfrey’s library. Featured in Harry Potter, this is the oldest reading room in the Bod with sections dating from 1487. Intimidatingly beautiful, it makes you feel about as small as the pencil you’re allowed to write with.
The Rad Cam
Much of the above applies in relation to the Rad Cam. You’ll find over the course of your degree that making Japanese tourists jealous brings a certain degree of vindictive pleasure to your life. Note that not only can you not get in without your Bod card here, but your bag will also be searched and you will have to pass through the suspicious glare of
library ‘security’. Upstairs in the Rad Cam is beautiful and old, with rickety spiral staircases as you move into the upper working spaces. The silence can be oppressive, and any accidental rustling of paper will cause an entirely disproportionate sense of guilt.
The Gladstone Link
This is a mysterious underground library that links the Bod and the Rad Cam. It has the aura of a disused nuclear power station, complete with a whirring sound that flits in and out of human hearing range. Some say it’s a portal to another dimension, others that it’s purgatory. It’s certainly very well stocked, albeit with a weird reference system that appears to be based on Nazi Enigma code. Definitely useful, if you have the nerve for it.
Nupur Takwale St John’s PPE
a union member - the Oxford Union’s main library really is a stunning room, with a high domed ceiling, and a kind of mezzanine balcony level round the side. There isn’t a huge amount of workspace, but if you’re there at a quieter time it’s very cosy and a great change of scene. It’s reasonably well stocked with humanities books too, and lends to union members. Worth bearing in mind if some bastard in your year has nabbed every volume on your reading list from the college library.
The EFL
The SSL
The English Faculty Library is found unsurprisingly - in the English Faculty, a hideously ugly building shared with the law faculty on St Cross Road. The EFL is very well stocked with periodicals as well as books, allows you to take books out and tends to have multiple copies of the most in-demand volumes. It’s worth knowing that the Law Library just up the steps is far nicer and allows you to order Bodleian books there if you can’t be bothered to walk up the road to the Rad Cam. Just prepare for lawyers to cast the odd withering look over the top of their dusty tomes as you settle in to enjoy your Austen.
The Sackler
*even if a certain library doesn’t stock your subject’s material, it’s still worth library-hopping. Just to spice up your working life. Also worth checking out are Rhodes House, the Taylorian Institute and Vere Harmsworth.
The Social Sciences Library is situated simply miles away (right next to Catz and a few minutes walk from the High Street). The library is large and oddly clinical, with whitewashed walls and supermarket-style book aisles. It has areas for those who wish to work in silence, those with laptops, those who want their own room, and those few darkages folk who are actually content with desktops. It is also conveniently situated in the Department for Politics and International Relations building, meaning that there is a very decent café just above it for sneaky work breaks. This is the centre for Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology books, located on St John Street right by the Ashmolean. You need to swipe your Bod card to get in, and the Sackler has a particularly eccentric sensor, so don’t be surprised if you have to walk sheepishly over to the library desk and ask them to do it for you. Once you’re inside, volumes are arranged in a dizzyingly circular formation intersected by a network of paths, such that the act of looking for books can leave you faintly nauseous. That said, it’s a more informal place to work than the Bodleian proper, and unlike the Bod is a lending library. Lending periods can be quite short though (sometimes 1-2 days), and the fines are hefty if you’re forgetful.
The Union Library
Definitely one of the best perks of being
WORK
31