Review of Bodleian Library Minerva Event
8th May 2009

By Sheila Mawby (South Hampstead Old Girl)

As one of the six national copyright libraries, the Bodleian Library in Oxford is entitled to receive a copy of every book, periodical and newspaper published in Britain. Over seven million volumes are held by the library, stored on 120 miles of shelving.

In 1488, a new library was opened above the Divinity School, to house manuscripts donated by Humfrey, younger brother of King Henry V, and replacing the first University library, established in 1320. It is still known as Duke Humfrey's Library.

However the library declined and in 1550 many volumes were destroyed or dispersed in an iconoclastic purge initiated by Edward VI. The University could not afford to restock the library so the fittings were sold and the room was used by the medical faculty.

In 1598 Sir Thomas Bodley provided funds to restore the library and donated books from his own collection. The restored library was opened in 1602, and became known as the Bodleian Library (or “The Bod” to generations of students).

On 8th May, 2009, about three dozen Minerva members and guests assembled in the sunshine in the Old Schools Quadrangle.

Entering via the Proscholium, we assembled in the School of Divinity and were split into three groups.

The Divinity School is a large, ornately decorated late Gothic vaulted hall which was the first lecture and examination hall for the University. For nearly four hundred years candidates for Divinity degrees stood in pulpits to present their theses, in Latin to moderators.

While our guide told us about the history of the university and of the library, and pointed out the important fact that the Divinity School represented the Hogwarts Sanatorium in the Harry Potter films, we sat and admired the 455 carved bosses on the ceiling and looked at the views of the Sheldonian Theatre and of the Radcliffe Camera through the large windows.

(Until 1987 there was no artificial lighting in the Divinity School.)

The doorway in the north side was inserted in 1669 to provide easy access for processions into the Sheldonian for occasions such as degree ceremonies.

At the far end of the Divinity School a door leads to the Convocation House, a dark oak panelled room where the Chancellor presides over the business of the University, and where Charles I's parliament met during the civil war. One of our party was invited to sit on the impressive Chancellor's Throne.

In the Chancellor's Court leading off the Convocation House we heard that this University Court could provide immunity for members of the University from lay courts.

Finally we returned to the Proscholium and deposited all bags into lockable storage boxes so that we could proceed into other levels of the library.

(Photography is forbidden in all areas of the library apart from the ground floor)

On the way to Duke Humfrey's Library, we admired the paintings in The Arts End, above the Proscholium. This section was Thomas Bodley's first extension to Duke Humfrey's library.

In hushed whispers we were told that the books in the library were not arranged by topic but by size. They were chained to the shelves, and were inserted into the bookcases spine first. Books could therefore only be identified by numbers written across the page ends. A reader had to apply to the librarian to be given the number and location of a specific book. Books on higher shelves could only be reached by a librarian climbing a ladder. Modern health and safety regulations have recently rendered these books inaccessible!

We proceeded to the Radcliffe Camera, the photogenic circular building in the centre of Radcliffe Square and briefly admired the ceiling and noted that nowadays students are allowed to bring laptop computers into the library but that bags or pens are still forbidden.

From the Radcliffe Camera we descended into part of the hidden section of the library, the maze of tunnels and the bookstacks, where most of the publications are stored on rolling shelves. An ingenious system of trays and conveyor belts links the stacks to the various sections of the library.

Coming out eventually in the New Bodleian, we were amused by the notice on the entrance door to the stacks, advising readers to tell a colleague of their whereabouts if entering the stacks after 5:00 p.m., and to follow the yellow line on the floor to find the exit in the event of an emergency evacuation or if they were lost.

Finishing the tour, we were taken by coach to Oxford High School, where we were greeted by the Head, Miss Felicity Lusk, and a team of sixth formers. In the school hall we were served tea and a lavish spread of sandwiches, canapés and cakes, and heard about the plans for new developments to the buildings, including the replacement of the hall. The tour of the school with the sixth formers induced a mix of nostalgia and envy.

The champagne that was served on our return to the hall was a fitting celebratory note to end an exciting and informative trip.

Thanks are due to Jennifer Hewson of Minerva for organising the trip, to Jane Bale, Chairman of OHS Alumnae, to the very knowledgeable guides at the Bodleian and to Miss Lusk and her 6th-formers for their generous hospitality at the school.