Our approach is to prioritise the safety of our staff and readers, whilst working hard to make it possible to ‘Keep the University reading’.

You might not be able to come to the Bod, but the Bod can come to you.

Library buildings
Our public spaces (e.g. exhibition galleries) were closed from 9am on 17 March 2020.

All library sites and reading rooms will close to readers until further notice. Bodleian Health Care Libraries will be open 24/7 unstaffed, to support our clinical and NHS communities.

Library services
Our physical services will be suspended, whilst we both continue and expand our digital services.

1. eResources. The Bodleian provides access to over 118k eJournals, and over 1.4m eBooks. Our priority is to maintain access to these, and to add to the eResources that we provide for the Oxford community. All accessible through SOLO. More details can be found here.

2. Scan-and-deliver. This service, scanning materials for readers from collections at the Book Storage Facility and accessed through SOLO, will become free of charge for all library card holders. A new service, ‘Scan-and-deliver+’ (accessed here) will provide scans of material in Oxford library locations.

3. Oxford Reading Lists Online (ORLO). The ORLO service provides students with online reading lists linked to library and open access resources and can be used in Canvas or through its own user interface. ORLO currently holds 1,000+ lists for the current academic year in support of 22+ departments from across the academic divisions. We are instigating a rapid roll-out to other courses. More details can be found here.

4. Loans. All books currently on loan will be auto-renewed until 19 June 2020. Please hold on to books you have out, do not return them. Any fines will be waived. We are considering other options to reintroduce lending on a limited basis, in the future.

5. Inter-Library-Loans (ILL). Electronic delivery will soon be available free of charge (accessed here), but physical ILL is suspended.

6. Oxford University Research Archive (ORA). The ORA service (accessed here) will continue in support of open access to Oxford research, and in support of REF.

7. eReference/enquiries. We have expanded our Live Chat service, available 9am–7pm every day from Monday 23 March, available from our website, LibGuides or SOLO.  Remote assistance from expert library staff is available by emailing reader.services@bodleian.ox.ac.uk (staffed weekdays, 9am–5pm).

While we are working hard to ensure we can maintain our digital services, and expand them where possible, we will be able to do this only when it does not compromise the health and safety of our staff.

Please visit the Bodleian website and social media channels for regular updates.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Richard Ovenden, OBE
Bodley’s Librarian

Note: Many digital services, like our catalogue SOLO or ORA are accessible to all, while some of the services and resources noted above are restricted to Bodleian Libraries card holders (Single Sign On required).