Oxford Libraries: Bodleian and Christ Church

Check out the website: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/

I just made it to the Bodleian library after oversleeping, and I am glad I did not miss this day. Both the Bodleian library and the Christ Church Library were beautiful in their architecture, and the city felt a lot more safer and educated than London, which I attributed to being busy and political.

Perhaps because everyone is studying, Oxford was surprisingly quiet compared to other cities. And quiet is what we needed to be in the Bodleian library. We could not even take pictures of the interior of the library. Still, our tour guide showed us around the rooms and discussed the history of this college.

People would need to write up 3000 word essays every six days and have one-on-one tutoring with mentors. Their exams consists of presentations. This used to be a college to turn people towards God, like almost every major old college, and this took seven years of apprenticeships, but now people can choose and study a variety of topics, and there is an emphasis on taking the classics.

What intrigued me is the history. While established in 1488 by Duke Humphrey, it had to be reestablished back in 1598 by Sir Bodley after all the books were removed after the Anglican reformation. I suspect this is why even royalty cannot lend books from the library, to preserve whatever is left from any mass censorship, but I never pressed the issue. For a library, it seems very exclusive, but for good reason. Only three original works are left, and four years ago, someone was cutting illuminated pages out of books to make a quick buck.

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Check out the website: https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/library

 

  

My favorite part of the trip however was the Christ Church College. This Oxford college looked more like a campus yet architecturally ancient. This library felt the most modern however, perhaps because Steven Archer looked like  student and yet is the head of the working library, and there is too much money to go around (yet the only drawback is the staff seems greatly underpaid for their efforts). Granted, his introduction to the library was quite radical, as he was the third librarian after 65 years. Changes must have been needed, and that may be why the library itself seems so modern despite its ancient shelves.

The items displayed are even more ancient than the shelves. From the first edition of Charles Darwin's The Origins of Species to Lewis Carroll's sketches, every item felt like they had heavy historic value, and yet any student could look through these collections. The needs of the students are put over these collections, and I am concern on how to feel about this, but figured a collection stowed away is as useless as not ever having it.