Christmas Vacation Loans

As we come to the end of Michaelmas Term, the History Faculty Library will be moving into the vacation loan period. From Monday 27th November (8th week), all books issued from the library won’t need to be returned until Tuesday 16th January (1st week, Hilary).

This also applies to any renewals of current loans that take place from Monday 27th onwards. However, if there is a hold request on a book you have, it will need to be brought back by the original due date.

As always, you can check due dates and renew books through your SOLO account. And if you have any questions please come and speak to staff in the Radcliffe Camera or drop us an email at library.history@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

Happy Christmas reading!

 

Summer Vacation Loans start 21 June 2023

With the end of term fast approaching, readers are advised that HFL borrowing for the summer will begin on Wednesday 21st June. Please note, this is in 9th Week due to the History of the British Isles assessment that takes place during the preceding week. From this date onwards HFL borrowing limits will increase to 30 items (short loans inclusive), with a due date of Monday 9th October. Wishing you all the best of luck in the coming weeks!

Disability History Hackathon, or…How to crowdsource over 200 websites!

To mark Disability History month, 24 volunteers assembled in the History Faculty on a cold and grey last day of term with an additional 12 joining the event via Teams. The mission? To find quality websites for a Bodleian Libraries’ guide on disability history resources. Prof Rob Iliffe opened the event by thanking all for contributing to the Faculty’s commitment to foster teaching and research in disability history.

Photo shows a tiered lecture theatre with participants looking towards the speaker.

Photo by Rachel D’Arcy Brown

After lunch and a handy crash course on advanced Google searching by Bethan Jenkins, students, researchers, librarians, and staff from the University’s Disability Advisory Service (DAS) settled down with their laptops to surf the web. Individuals were given broad topics to focus on. In just under two hours, an astonishing 226 resources were recorded, covering all periods and forms of disability. This is a fantastic achievement by the volunteer hackers and more than we could have hoped for.

The History Faculty Library trainee, Alice Shepherd, will next design a user-friendly version of the guide and add helpful contextual information. When completed at some point in 2023, the guide will be open to anybody in the world who is interested in disability history and looking for research resources. Watch this space!

Photo shows a laptop on a table in the History Fculty Common Room

Photo by Helen Young

As an event format, this jointly organised hybrid hackathon was a great success and will be a template for similar initiatives in the future. It used an inclusive, accessible, and collaborative approach to crowdsource quality resources for research and the public good. And it was fun! There may have been cake in between and drinks at the end for the survivors….

The effort to collate quality resources has not stopped. Individuals wishing to nominate a resource for the disability history guide are warmly invited to do so, using the input form at https://oxford.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/disability-history-hackathon-input-form.

Our thanks and gratitude also go to the History Faculty and their staff for supporting the event in many ways, and to all the library and DAS staff who helped with the organisation and delivery of the event.

Dr Sloan Mahone, History Faculty & Isabel Holowaty, Bodleian Libraries

Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Welcome Tours 2022

Welcome tours to the Radcliffe Camera (including the History Faculty Library) are now available for undergraduates and taught postgraduate students to book.

You can book a place on one of our tours here:

Getting started: Undergraduates and taught postgraduates | Bodleian Libraries (ox.ac.uk)

Tours last approximately 30 minutes and will run on the following dates and times in 0th and 1st weeks of Michaelmas Term:

Wednesday 5th to Friday 7th October – 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm

Monday 10th to Friday 14th October – 11am, 3pm

We look forward to welcoming you to the library and introducing you to our collections and services.

NEW: Browse and Borrow service (and other updates…)

Browse and Borrow – 30 minute session 

From Monday 12th October, the History Faculty Library will be offering bookable “Browse and Borrow” sessions:

  • You can remain in the library for up to 30 minutes
  • You are free to browse the shelves in all reading rooms
  • You can use the PCAS machines to copy or scan material
  • Books can be issued using the self-issue machine or at the staff desk
  • You may not sit at any desks to study during a Browse & Borrow slots as seating capacity cannot be increased to accommodate this.

For further information see: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/using/browse-and-borrow

To book a session go to the booking page for the Radcliffe Camera https://tickets.ox.ac.uk/webstore/shop/viewItems.aspx?cg=BODBL&c=RRHFLBL

Click and Collect – withdrawn for History Faculty Library 

This service was introduced in early July to facilitate access to the collections when libraries were still closed to readers. It will no longer be possible to place a request via SOLO for this service for History Faculty Library items, as we are not able to offer this service on a wider scale to cope with term-time lending demand. As we have increased the number of slots to access the collections, this will offer more opportunity to our readers to have non-mediated access to collections.

We will continue to offer Click and Collect via email where appropriate (e.g. proxy collection for self-isolating or vulnerable readers).

Seating in reading rooms – more slots available!

We are increasing the number of slots available, as we extended our opening hours and introduce additional seating in the Gladstone Link and Duke Humfrey’s Library. Please be mindful that seating capacity is reduced, so we encourage you to only book the number of slots you need to access print collections or electronic Legal Deposit material. Please also let us know as soon as possible if you need to cancel slot – we are working on improving the process for cancelling a slot.

We appreciate that the Lower Camera is very popular but this reading room has the fewest number of seats available. If you can’t get a seat in the Lower Camera then do consider booking a seat in one of the other reading rooms – from Monday 12th October access via the Gladstone Link tunnel will be reinstated so you can fetch material from any reading room on site and return to your desk.

Returning books on loan 

  • You do NOT need to book a slot to return books.
  • Avoid arriving at the following times at the Radcliffe Camera as there are more likely to be queues of readers with seat booking.
    Monday to Friday = 9:30 / 13:30 / 17:00
    Saturday = 10:00 / 13:00
    Sunday = 12:00 / 15:00
  • We have temporarily increased renewals for standard loan items so that you don’t have to return books on Monday 12th October
  • There is currently a grace period in operation for fines, so if you can’t return or renew then don’t panic and get in touch with us.
  • We are still offering FREE postal return including international courier service. Email borrow@bodleian.ox.ac.uk for more information

Services for self-isolating students

Do get in touch to discuss your individual needs and with library contacts. All of our services are dependent on staffing levels but we will do our best to help you where possible.​

Tips

  • Take advantage of access to online resources via SOLO
  • Be organised and book a visit to the library in advance
  • Book a Browse and Borrow slot of you only need to access something quickly
  • Don’t book multiple slots unless you need extended access to print/eLD collections
  • Cancel a slot if you don’t need it via reader.services@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Due to government guidelines, we are required to strictly manage access to our libraries to ensure that we are operating according to social distancing guidelines including NHS Test and Trace. We have introduced new services and adapted existing services in response to unprecedented circumstances and have planned our Michaelmas Term services, as best as we can but there will be inevitable teething issues. We fully anticipated that term time will be challenging and we will be closely monitoring the demand on our services and making changes where required.

Thank you for your patience and please get in touch if you have questions or feedback: library.history@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Returning to our Reading Rooms: A Guide

From Monday 17th August, the Rad Cam will open its gates to readers once again for pre-booked reading room slots! If you haven’t done so already, you can reserve a slot up to 2 weeks in advance on our booking page. As well as desks in Upper and Lower Camera, we have a height-adjustable desk and Reader PCs available to book.

As you might expect, we have some new procedures and adjustments to help
keep you safe in the library, so here’s a guide to what to expect on your visit:

1. Please remember to bring your seat booking confirmation email, and most importantly your University/Reader card with you. As the Admissions office is currently not issuing Day Passes, we won’t be able to let you in without your card.

2. You will be asked to wear a face covering in the library, including at your desk, and unless exempt (see below*) staff will ask you to come back with a face covering if you arrive without one. We are following University guidance that wearing a face covering can aid alongside hand hygiene and social distancing in helping to keep us all safe in university buildings.

*Some readers will be exempt from wearing a face covering under government regulations, and this need for exemption may not be obvious.
Please be mindful of this if you see someone without a face covering in the library.
If this exemption applies to you, we can provide a sign to show at your desk if you would like to indicate that you’re exempt in this way, although this is completely optional.

3. You may need to queue on the path outside when you arrive at the library. Keep a distance of 2 metres between you and other readers when queuing, and for the duration of your visit.

4. When you arrive, show your booking confirmation to the member of staff at Reception, and they will give you your assigned desk number and directions to your seat. To help with distancing, most seats will not be in use; these will be indicated by a sign with a red cross. Staff will also be wearing face coverings subject to the procedure above, and we have installed protective screens at staff desks.

5. As well as hand sanitiser at the library entrance, we also have convenient sanitiser stations throughout the library. Please make regular use of these during your visit!

6. Want to find some books? As some spaces in our building are quite snug, please be cautious and considerate of other readers when browsing the shelves, ensuring a 2 metre distance. In Lower and Upper Camera, enter each bay on the right-hand side to reach the shelves, as there will be no reader desks in use on this side.

7. Want to borrow a HFL book? Due to the Bodleian’s membership of the HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service, which allows for access to selected ebooks during this period, we currently have license restrictions on the books we are allowed to loan. Please bring any books you wish to borrow to the issue desk, and staff will check whether they are loanable. Alternatively, you can use our Click & Collect service to order books from home; please note that this process can take 2-3 working days before books are ready for collection.

8. And finally, welcome back! If you have any questions in advance of your visit, you can email us at library.history@bodleian.ox.ac.uk, and if you’re unsure of anything in the library just ask a member of staff and we’ll be happy to help.

(Photos credit: George Kiddy & Gareth Evans)

 

 

New Postal Returns Service

If you’re not in Oxford and are unable to return your loans to our Returns hubs, you can now send your books back to us via the Bodleian’s new free Postal Returns service!

1. Click on this link for the Royal Mail’s Tracked Service.

2. Follow the instructions to either print off a package label at home, or to use a QR code, sent to you by email, to print the label at a Post Office.

3. Package the books following Royal Mail’s guidance as best you can. Take the package with label or QR code to your nearest Post Office. As this is a prepaid service, you won’t be asked to pay any postage on your parcel.

If you have books from multiple Bodleian Libraries, you can send them all back in the same package and once they reach Oxford they will be distributed to their owning libraries. Please don’t be concerned if you see that posted items remain on your SOLO account over the summer, as it will take staff some time to process them all. You will not be charged any fines while books are awaiting check-in; only fines accrued before the library’s closure in March will be payable.

If you are currently outside the UK, if you are unable to get to a Post Office to drop off your books, or if you have a large number of books on loan, you can get in touch with the Bodleian’s Returns team at borrow@bodleian.ox.ac.uk and they will find another option for you.

NB. Please note that the free postal service is for those readers who are unable to return books in person. If you are currently in Oxford, or planning to visit over the summer, and you are able to bring your books back in person, we would be grateful if you could do so via our Returns hubs (details here: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/using/loanreturns).

A Guide to Click and Collect at the HFL

You may have heard the news that we have started to welcome readers to our Click & Collect service at the HFL! Click & Collect is an emergency interim service at selected Bodleian Libraries (currently us, the Social Science Library and the Sackler Library), which allows university members to borrow books which would usually be loanable, via pre-booked collection slots.

Not sure what to expect when using the service? Here’s a step-by-step guide!

 

1. Request your book(s). Once logged into SOLO, look out for the green Click & Collect button next to eligible HFL books. Your request will then be sent to the library for staff to pick and process.

2. Once your book has been processed (usually the next working day after you request), you will receive an email inviting you to book a collection timeslot from the next working day onwards; our collection hours are 11am-3pm Monday-Friday. You will only need to book a slot for one requested item, and other books you order will then also be available to collect in this timeslot. At this stage you can also add a named person to collect books on your behalf (please ask them to bring some photo ID!).
N.B. As mentioned above, it takes a few working days for the Click & Collect process to complete, so please order your books ahead of time. Please also note that only pre-booked items will be available and you won’t be able to request additional items at the desk when you arrive.

3. On arrival, hold your Reader Card to the pad to unlock the door. If you have any problems with your card, use the intercom to talk to a member of staff. If you notice that there is another reader already inside, please wait on the path at a distance of at least 2 metres from any other readers.

4. Show the member of staff at Reception your card. There is a protective screen at the desk, and a hand sanitiser dispenser available, for the safety of staff and readers.

5. The staff member will fetch a bag containing your pre-issued books and may ask you to stand back while they place them onto the shelf beside the desk. Socially distanced handover pictured below! If you need to drop off HFL returns when you collect, there is a box next to the staff desk to put them in.

6. Enjoy your books! If you have any questions about the Click & Collect process, please get in touch by email at library.history@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

 

 

Click and Collect at HFL

We’re very pleased to announce that your favourite History Faculty Library loan books are now available to borrow through the Bodleian’s Click & Collect Service!

Click & Collect is an emergency interim service designed to enable borrowing from selected Bodleian Libraries. The service will initially be offered by us, the Sackler Library, and the Social Science Library, and other libraries will introduce the service on a phased basis.

University members will be able to place requests on SOLO for items which would usually be available to borrow. Once logged in to SOLO, just look for the green button next to eligible books. Library staff will fetch the requests and once the items are ready for collection, borrowers will be emailed to invite them to select a date and time to collect the items. The safety of staff and readers is paramount in the design of the service; limitations will apply on which libraries are able to participate and when.

For full details see https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/using/clickandcollect

If you have any problems when placing a request, or any queries about the collection process, please give us an email at library.history@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.