Moving into the 21st Century

This week I wanted to find out how a library that is famous for its early history and collection of books and manuscripts continues to develop and stay relevant in the 21^st century.

No books that I found were published recently enough, so I relied heavily on internet research. Almost every search I did led straight to the Bodleian’s home page. I have added a link to this to this blog.

The first thing I came across was “Bod 2.0”. This reminded me of the “Web 2.0” that we read about this semester. There are links to podcasts, or in this case “bodcasts”, on a variety of different subjects. There is also a Social Media Directory with details of various blogs, and pages on sites such as Facebook, Library Things and Twitter. I have also posted the links to these on this blog.

There are also “news” articles archived on the web site, which are more like press releases, but where nonetheless useful for up to date information on what is happening at the Bodleian. Interested people can subscribe to RSS feeds for these.

The first article I came across here was by accident when I was researching the collection. I found that the Bodleian has been working with ARTstor since 2005 to digitise the Bodleian’s Medieval Manuscripts and Early Printed Books collection. About 25,000 images have been digitised, allowing people all over the world to look at them as much as they like without jeopardising the safety of the original. Some of these are from the Ormesby Psalter, which I mentioned in a previous post.

In 2004, Oxford University reached an agreement with Google to digitise 1 million of the Bodleian Library’s books that are out of copyright. They digitised two copies – one for the library, and one for Google Books. I have actually benefited from the Google copies during my research about the Bodleian’s collection.

A service was also started a year ago called “Mobile Oxford”. Library patrons can search the catalogue of Oxford University’s libraries, including the Bodleian, on their mobile phone. Then, using the GPS built into their phone, the program will locate the nearest copy of the book and tell them how to reach it. This was the first service of its kind in the United Kingdom.

Although the Bodleian is the second largest library in the United Kingdom behind the British Library (Wikipedia 2010), storage space is a continual issue. Just this month the library’s new storage facility was opened. It cost 26 million pounds to build. Incredibly, the Bodleian libraries receive 1000 books per business day, and this facility is expected to fulfil their needs over the next 20 years on its 153 miles of shelving. The move of the books, maps, manuscripts, microfilms, periodicals and newspapers to this facility will be the biggest move in the library’s history (Bodleian Libraries open 26m pound Book Storage Facility 2010).

In another document the current Bodley’s Librarian, Sarah Thomas, spoke more about the Bodleian’s future plans:

“The Bodleian pledges to improve the overall speed of access to information by providing direct access to high-demand print collections, more online access to materials, electronic document delivery, and expanded inter-library loans.”

She also said that their strategy “includes a combination of direct access to books on the shelves of Oxford's libraries, online access to the largest number of digital titles in the UK, and state-of-the-art storage for paper collections” (21^st century plans for the Bodleian Library 2009).

REFERENCES

‘21^st Century Plans for Bodleian Library’ 2009, Bodleian Library, viewed October 16 2010, <http://www.campaign.ox.ac.uk/news/bod_21st.html>

‘Bodleian Library’ 2010, Wikipedia, viewed September 4 2010, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodleian_Library>

‘Bodleian Library, Oxford’ n.d. Sacred Destinations, viewed October 4 2010, < http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/oxford-bodleian-library>

‘Medieval Manuscripts Uploaded into the 21^st Century’ 2008, Bodleian Library, viewed October 16 2010, < http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/news/2008_june_06>

‘Oxford Libraries go mobile’ 2009, Bodleian Library, viewed October 16 2010 <http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/news/2009_oct_23>

‘Bodleian Libraries open 26m pound Book Storage Facility’ 2010, Bodleian Library, viewed October 16 2010, <http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/news/2010_oct_07>

Bennett K 2000, ‘Beyond the Book: Cultures of Collecting in Oxford Libraries and Beyond’, Bodleian Library Record, vol. 17, pp. 180-184

Carr, R 2005, Oxford-Google Digitisation Agreement, Bodleian Library, viewed October 16 2010, <http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/google/agreement.html>