Ordering Bodleian Books to the Radcliffe Camera

At the Radcliffe Camera, we process deliveries of Bodleian books ordered from our offsite Book Storage Facility (BSF) every weekday. Library staff scan in hundreds of interesting-looking items, but sadly we don’t get chance to read many of them!

“A Glossary of Rochdale and Rossendale Words & Phrases” recently called up from the BSF

A Glossary of Rochdale-with-Rossendale Words & Phrases by Henry Cunliffe was recently called up. Hailing from these parts, this book was always going to grab my attention, and reading through the glossary of terms from the Greater Manchester of the late-Victorian period was very entertaining.

Though Cunliffe’s chief aim in compiling the glossary was to encourage the continued use of local dialects, it would seem that his fears about them fading have been realised – whilst I am from Heywood (next-door to Rochdale), there were a lot of terms in the book that I didn’t recognise. At least we have the glossary to remind us of the things we’re missing. Some personal favourites (which might be helpful in a library context…) are:

Flopper-mouth, n. A noisy, talkative person

Skitterwit, n. A hare-brained person

Cure, n. A curious person

Shive off, int. Begone

Quicksticks, n. An instant; a very short time

 

As in: if any flopper-mouths or skitterwits cause bother, they will be told to shive off quicksticks!

 

We do welcome cures, though, so if anyone has any questions about ordering Bodleian books up to the library (or indeed any other aspects of using our resources) do approach staff with your questions. A large proportion of our 13 million books are kept at the BSF in Swindon, so if you ever need to consult one of them you can easily place a hold request on SOLO (our library catalogue) with a view to reading the book the very next day. *Please note, unlike History Faculty Library books, BSF requests are reference-only.

 

Some honourable mentions:

Snowbones, n. Hard lumps of snow left in hollow places after the rest has melted

Fank, v. to indulge fancies of love

Shiftless, adj. Void of energy or motive power

 

Vacation opening hours start on Monday 17 June 2013

Trinity Term comes to an end this weekend and this means that the Library will be moving to its summer vacation timetable from Monday 17 June 2013.

beachVacation opening hours

From Monday the 17 June 2013 the Radcliffe Camera and Old Bodleian Library will be open:

  • Monday-Friday 9.00-19.00
  • Saturday 10.00-16.00
  • Sunday closed

The Gladstone Link closes 45 minutes before the rest of the Library (i.e. 18.15 on weekdays and 15.15 on Saturdays).

vanEnd of Saturday book deliveries trial

This term the Bodleian Libraries have trialled offering an extra delivery of stack material on a Saturday.  The last day of the trial is tomorrow.  Remember that closed stack material from the book storage facility takes 24-48 hours to be delivered so if you plan to visit the Library and use material on a Saturday you need to ordered it well in advance.

Encaenia closure on Wed 19 June

The Library will be closed on the morning of Wednesday 19 June for Encaenia.  The library will be open 14.00-19.00.  Stack books will be delivered as normal.

Encaenia is the ceremony at which the University of Oxford awards honorary degrees to distinguished men and women and commemorates its benefactors. It is held annually on the Wednesday of ninth week during Trinity Term.

Related Links

Bodleian Library: Saturday Book Deliveries 20 April to 15 June

vanDidn’t order in time to catch the last book delivery on Friday? There is now some good news.

As of 20th April, items from remote storage ordered between 10.30am on Friday and 9.15am on Saturday will now be delivered on Saturday, around lunch time. Please note: this is a limited pilot service for Trinity Term 2013.

Saturday deliveries will only be made to:

  • Old Bodleian Library (Upper RR and Lower RR)
  • Radcliffe Camera
  • Radcliffe Science Library (not Special Collections RR)
  • Social Science Library

Make sure you order before 9:15 on Saturday!

If you have any feedback on this pilot, email reader.services@bodleian.ox.ac.uk