The Bodleian Library at Oxford was founded in 1602 by Thomas Bodley and housed in the Divinity School, which was built in 1488. This building, the oldest at the Bodleian Library, is where we began our tour. The Divinity School has a distinctive ceiling carved with family crests and hanging pendants. Some of the carving throughout the hall shows some damage dating back to the Reformation, with one statue entirely missing. The Divinity School may also look familiar to Harry Potter fans, because it was the filming location for Hogwart's infirmary and Professor McGonagall's dancing lessons. (Although it seems that those affiliated with the library would rather not have Harry Potter as the Divinity School's primary point of interest.)From the Divinity School, our tour guide brought us across the street to the library's most modern building, the New Bodleian Library, which was built in 1938. It's composed mainly of stacks, eight floors total, with a few reading rooms as well. The Bodleian Library is a reference library, and no books ever officially leave the building. As we entered the four floors of subterranean stacks, it was impossible not to notice the signs of warning posted on and near the door. They read something like this: "Entering the stacks at night? Have you told someone where you're going?" and "Lost? Follow the stripe on the floor to the exit." I think it must be every librarian's secret nightmare, to be lost in the labyrinthine stacks, forever searching for the way out.
The stacks in the Bodleian are on movable tracks to maximize space, and the books are organized by size for the same reason. Unlike the British Library, however, the Bodleian has incorporated some aspects of Dewey Decimal into the catalog. Our guide informed us that, although all the Bodleian catalogs are available on CD, there is no subject cataloging for the collection. I found it very interesting to hear that subject searches in the Bodleian are routed through other institutions, such as the Library of Congress, to identify items or authors. This information is then used to search the Bodleian catalog. It seems to me that a research library, especially one with the history and reputation of the Bodleian, could benefit from some subject indexing. I believe that the catalog might see an increase in use as a result.
Our guide, although not a librarian, was able to tell us that the Bodleian Library is struggling with many of the same issues as other libraries worldwide. Developments in technology are raising questions about acquisition. For instance, the library must decide whether to keep an individual, physical map, or the map on CD-ROM. As a library of deposit, entitled to a copy of every book published in Britain, the Bodleian also has special issues related to storage space versus acquisition. It's always a sensitive issue, deciding what should be preserved for the future, and our guide informed us that the library holds a collection of Mills & Boone, the British equivalent of Harlequin romances, in an off-site location. I was pleased to hear that this ancient, respected institution is so broad and democratic in its collection development, especially in light of its challenges in regards to space. It's impossible to predict what may be of interest to future generations, and it's libraries like the Bodleian which must preserve this material.
This visit to the Bodleian brought up many issues that I hadn't anticipated. For example, the Bodleian Library is continuing to use an antiquated system of conveyor belts to deliver books from the stacks. The system was designed and implemented in 1938, and although it still functions it could use some updating. In a modern American library, the system would undoubtedly be upgraded or completely replaced. The Bodleian, however, has many issues to consider before undertaking such an operation. Because the books that are housed are often very old, and in need of conservation and preservation, it is a much more complicated issue to undertake building renovation than to merely cover the stacks with a tarp and begin the work. On top of that, many of the buildings housing the collection are historic sites, worthy of their own preservation and conservation. The combination of these environmental factors and the nature of the library's collection results in a situation where major changes to the collection itself, or the buildings that house it, requires a great deal of thought and planning, and may not happen very often at all. As a result, the workers within the library require a special set of skills. Those who work regularly in the stacks, referred to by our guide with all due respect as "troglodytes," must have a unique knowledge of what is in the collection and where it is kept. All library employees must develop a particular kind of humor and flexibility that can allow them to adjust to the unique environment of the Bodleian Library. And, finally, all those associated with the library, staff and users alike, must act primarily from a position of respect for both the incredible collection and it's historical home.
