The Bodleian Library was founded by Sir Thomas Bodley and officially opened on 8 November 1602. It is located at the heart of the historic part of Oxford and it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe and in England is second in size only to the British Library.
With over 100 miles of shelving and holding a copy of every published book in the world, the Bodleian, known to Oxford scholars as "Bodley" or simply "the Bod", is the research library for the University of Oxford. Under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, it is one of the six legal deposit libraries (British Library, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Dublin and Aberystwyth) for works published in the United Kingdom and under the Irish Law, it is entitled to request a copy of each book published in the Republic of Ireland.
In its reading rooms, generations of famous scholars have studied through the ages, amongst them five monarchs, forty Nobel Prize winners, twenty-six British Prime Ministers and writers including Oscar Wilde, CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien
Today, the buidings are still used by students and scholars from all over the world and they attract an increasing number of visitors who are welcomed to see its iconic buidings and learn about the Library´s history and its vast collections.
On November 8th, the Bodleian Library in Oxford will celebrate the 410th anniversary of its opening.
WHAT TO SEE :
. The old schools Quadrangle with its magnificient buildings and monumental Tower of the Five Orders of Architecture.
.The Divinity School, the oldest teaching room and the first examination school of the University of Oxford.
.The 17th-century Convocation House, where Parliament was held during the Civil War, and Chancellor´s Court.
.The medieval Duke Humfrey´s Library, the oldest reading room.
.The Radcliffe Camera, the first rotunda library built in Britain.
.The Gladstone Link, the former underground book stack beneath the Radcliffe Square and the tunnel between the Bodleian Library and the Radcliffe Camera.
