A proposal to transfer the services and collections of the History Faculty Library from the Old Indian Institute Building to the Old Bodleian Library and Radcliffe Camera has been circulated for consultation and is being reviewed by a number of University bodies.
The proposal reflects the strategic vision of the Bodleian Libraries to provide improved services through the integration and consolidation of a number of its satellite libraries, thereby reducing costs to Divisions and enabling improved services, such as longer hours of operation.
If the proposal is implemented, the savings achieved by the relocation of the history collections to the Bodleian would free up resources for the purchase of additional books, journals, and databases and for the support of Sunday hours in both the Radcliffe Camera and Old Bodleian Library. The Libraries are consulting with other faculties who are users of the Camera and the Old Bodleian to ensure that their needs are also taken into consideration in planning for these service adjustments.
At their meeting on 23 January 2012 the Curators of the University Libraries endorsed the proposal in principle, subject to satisfactory conclusion of the consultation process underway in Hilary Term, the results of which will be reviewed by Curators in their 8th week meeting.
In recognition of the need to more effectively galvanise student views and to assist the student representatives in their role, students should note that their reps will attend an Extraordinary History Committee for Library Provision meeting on Monday 30 January as the start of the consultation dialogue. We look towards working with the student reps who are liaising with the student constituencies and will be receiving any official documentation which will be issued in the course of the consultation period. Here is a reminder of your student reps:
Undergraduates:
Isabel Stokholm (St Edmund Hall), isabel.stokholm@seh.ox.ac.uk
Madeleine Foote (St Peter’s College), madeleine.foote@spc.ox.ac.uk
Postgraduates:
Kathleen Vongsathorn (Green Templeton College), kathleen.vongsathorn@gtc.ox.ac.uk
Rouven Kunstmann (St Antony’s College), rouven.kunstmann@sant.ox.ac.uk
Related links: HFL Library Management, StudentZone
