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April News

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April Headlines

April was a busy month for the Library! Various subtle changes have been afoot while most of our readers were off enjoying the Easter Vacation (and yes, we know a lot of you were revising for exams).

Book Moves

Most obvious are the adjustments which we have made to the shelving arrangements in the Library of Congress Section, where the large folio-sized books have been moved to the back walls of the two last bays at the far end of the section towards the windows. This move is designed to allow the rest of the LC section to gradually move towards that end of the library and round to occupy the space currently used for the old D sequence, which is gradually diminishing as Kate works on it. Some of the LC books are now on the shelves under the windows, in the space where the last of the BPs were, and the sequence will continue to move up as and when the space is available.

The folios will hopefully remain where they are for the foreseeable future, when the space they occupy is full we will have to have a rethink but for now there should be enough room for the remainder of the Fol. DS section which is still to be done. Space left by the folios will be used to make room in the more congested sections of the rest of the LC sequence, so please don’t worry about a few empty shelves! Nothing stays like that for long…

Computers

As those of you who use the Reader PCs will note, during the vacation they were upgraded to Windows 7. The basic functionality should remain the same but the appearance will be slightly changed.

Staff PCs have also now all been upgraded, too, so hopefully there will be no further disruptions, although we did have a bit if a wait for some extra applications to be installed. This work was necessitated by the fact that Windows XP, which all our computers had been running on up until now, is no longer supported by Microsoft, occasioning the IT department to have to upgrade the whole University of Oxford in a short time. Given how much they had to do, we are grateful that everything appears to have gone as smoothly as it did!

Other News

No other news right now (and I am rushing to get this out as it’s rather late), but just a reminder that we are open as usual on the next Bank Holiday (May 26th).

March Headlines and Announcements for April

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From a Library point of view March has been quite a busy month, despite the end of Term and the subsequent emptying-out as many of our readers leave for the vacation.

The week of the 10th-14th was a SCONUL week, when we collect statistics of library attendance and the nature of our enquiries; if any of you were wondering why we were wandering the library counting you at particular times of day, that was why!

We had to contend with the visit from the men who were putting in new windows for two weeks at the end of the month, both in the Library itself and also in the back offices, along with a nice new fire door at the end of the building facing towards Blackfriars’. I hope that the plastic sheeting, banging around and persistent odour of glue were not too much of a distraction for too many people. Sadly they gave us minimal notice before the work began, we knew they were coming, but their schedule was somewhat of a mystery until they said “we’re coming next week”. We were just glad that they were so quick, and also that they managed to at least arrive now while it is vacation and not during exams, and we are sure that the additional easily-opened windows will help with the stuffiness which we sometimes suffer in the summer months. Sadly your humble blogger did not manage to get any action photos of the windows being done; we apologise for this oversight.

There is also an ongoing scheme to upgrade all the University computers still using the Windows XP operating system to Windows 7, which has seen several members of staff already upgraded. This is essential work as there will be no support from Microsoft for XP after the end of April. The programme of works will also affect the Library computers for readers, but we have yet to receive confirmation of the dates when this will happen. We will endeavour to give as much notice as possible of any times when the reader PCs will be out of action. Please keep checking the Facebook Page for further information.

Announcements for April:

The Easter closure of the Library will begin on Thursday 17th April and run through to Tuesday April 22nd, when the Library will open as usual at 0915. We will post signs nearer the time to remind people.

Vacation Loans are currently in operation, with all books borrowed due back on the 29th April (Tuesday of 1st Week).

Finally, the reclassification has once again necessitated a bookmove to make up the space once occupied by the BP section. This will be taking place over the next few weeks and will result in some noise, although we will try to keep this to a minimum. If items you are used to finding in a particular place have moved, do come and ask us where they are!

 

 

September news

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The days are shortening; Oxford is filling up… this can only mean one thing: Term is almost upon us!

Rest assured we have used the last month of the long summer wisely! September saw another of our regular (and increasingly epic) book moves – redistributing the Library of Congress books to make room for more as they are added to our collection and reclassified from the old sequence.

Kate once again undertook this move single-handed, but as she is only with us on three afternoons a week it took almost 3 weeks to complete. We are reassessing how we can logistically manage the next move when it becomes necessary to do another so that it does not run on for quite so long!

Meanwhile, the shelf-labels are up to date, and most items are not far from their previous locations, although some will have shuffled around corners. We hope that readers will get used to the new homes for their old favourites reasonably quickly, but do check the shelf labels and ask us if you cannot find things.

As a result of this move, the reclassification for the summer stalled somewhat, but the number of books reclassified during July and August ran to 379 individual shelfmarks; 427 items in total.

Stay tuned for an exciting October, highlights of which will include:

The OIL Open Day on Friday 11th October,

A whizzy new online tool for Freshers (and everyone else),

AND… the OIL Mystery Object Competition!

May Headlines and Announcements for June

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A slightly topsy-turvy post this month…

Firstly, to get things out of the way (and make sure that people notice them), we have some

Announcements and reminders:

FINALISTS! Don’t forget to return your books to the Library or you will not be able to graduate!

The reminders for library fines have now gone out; outstanding fines will also prevent graduation, so make sure you have cleared your accounts!

As we have mentioned before, you can now pay fines for any Bodleian Library in any Bodleian Library, so there is no need to traipse round all the libraries in turn, but please remember that lost book fees may only be paid to the library which owned the book in the first place.

Library staff will be pleased to help if you have any questions.

May Headlines:

May is a month which always seems to fly by; the two bank holidays being one of the reasons, although of course the Library remained open for those.

It is always at this time of year that we notice a change in the readers’ behaviour as revision and exams alter priorities. We also notice a marked decline in the numbers of readers asking directions; most of you are now familiar with the library’s idiosyncrasies, although there are always the perennial “this book says it’s here but isn’t on the shelf” questions…

We also tend to see new readers from different subject areas who find themselves needing to access the Library – Hello to all the History undergraduates who are visiting us! Hope you found us without too much difficulty.

Meanwhile the additions to the Library’s Window On Korea collection are continuing with some urgency; the official Grand Opening will be on the 21st June (watch this space for updates and photos!) and the reclassification of the collections into Library of Congress Classification is also progressing. As we have no major moves planned for this Summer Vacation period – unlike last year when we were moving the Middle East Centre books – we hope to make some real progress with the reclassification during the quieter period.

April Headlines

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It’s been pretty quiet round here for most of April, with Vacation taking people away, but we have not been entirely idle!

Readers will notice that there have been more additions to the Window On Korea collections in the basement, with more books being moved to OIL from the Book Storage Facility, and new additions coming in every week from our offices at Osney Mead, where they are being processed as fast as humanly possible.

The Library of Congress books on the ground floor at OIL have undergone one of their periodic shufflings to make room for more reclassified and new books. Most will not have moved very far, but do check the end-of-shelf labels if you can’t find something where it used to be!

Now that Term is back in full swing, staff and readers should begin to get more used to the Short Loans procedures for the books kept behind the desk; we hope that this system will enable us to keep that collection as current as possible (after all, what better argument for removing a book if we have evidence that nobody has looked at it for a year, or two?), and also to keep track of items more easily.

A reminder to any who missed the earlier announcements that fines from across the Bodleian Libraries can now be paid in any of the Bodleian Libraries – including OIL – so if you have outstanding fines which you wish to clear do feel free to pay them here! Other charges, for example to replace lost books, should still be paid to the charging library as we can’t administer those.

And finally, the sun seems to be shining more often these days (dare we suggest that it might actually be spring?) and readers are, of course, welcome to open windows if they feel they are not getting enough fresh air. The handles are pretty easy to use, but do alert staff if any come loose!

Oh, and one more thing: a huge THANK YOU to our fabulous readers who have taken us to over 400 “Likes” on the Facebook Page! We hope that our posts on the unreliability of SOLO and other matters are useful and informative, without being too intrusive.

February headlines

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Hello! Welcome to the monthly digest of news and announcements for February.

It’s been a busy month in terms of readers but a quiet one for news; the various projects which are ongoing are still ongoing.

The Window on Korea books continue to be delivered in small batches – this is due to there being one (very busy) person cataloguing them prior to their being sent and one other (equally busy) person processing them and labelling them, and also the fact that we have a finite number of boxes and room in the van – but they are still arriving and there are still many more to come. We urge patience for those of you who are waiting for things; there is just no space anywhere to completely unpack the entire 5000 book collection in one lot!

The reclassification project has turned a corner – literally – in that we have now reached the back wall round by the BP166s. We are planning a minor book-move to shuffle up into the vacated space from this terms’ work, but it will happen after the end of Term and we will try to make as little noise as possible. For anyone wishing to find the books previously shelved in the area recently reclassified, most of them are now in the corresponding BP161.2 section in the Library of Congress section, although some others are in different places. Please check SOLO for specific items.

There are exciting developments in the pipeline for next Term, including a change to the way fines are administered within the Bodleian Libraries and the retirement of a very iconic piece of stationary from the Library desk. Watch this space…

January Headlines

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Belated happy new year to everyone!

Well, here we are in 2013, all rested after the Christmas break and raring to go…

The start of Term has seen an influx of new readers as students of other subjects find themselves required to find books which we hold. This is often the case at this time of year, and we welcome everyone as usual!

We also welcome a new member of staff to the library: Kenan started here in January and will be working almost-full-time hours. He’s still undergoing training at the moment but we are already noticing the difference that having an extra pair of hands makes, especially when we are busy.

Our ongoing Window on Korea project is still ongoing. The majority of the books are yet to be processed – 6,000+ in total arrived at the end of last year and need catalogue records before they can be sent here – but there is progress! Keep an eye on the shelves downstairs for the ever-expanding KSL section…

Elsewhere, we did a bit of moving over the Christmas Vacation to accommodate the growing Library of Congress section and to fill in empty space left in the BPs by the reclassification project. Most things will still be in roughly the same place, but some will have crept slightly further south; the shelf-end signs have been updated to show the shelf mark range in each bay along the eastern wall of the library (opposite the windows). As ever, do ask us if you have trouble finding anything!

One last thing: a polite request to everyone to please return books you are no longer using to the shelves – or one of the replacement points – so that others can find them! Our most frequent enquiry during Term is about books which say “Available” on the system but are nowhere to be found. Obviously, if you are using a book, then by all means do keep it on the desk, but please be mindful of the needs of others, especially when deadlines are looming!

November Headlines and Christmas Matters

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A bit late with this post, sorry! This is what happens when the month starts at a weekend…

November at OIL was its usual hectic self, bringing the rest of Michaelmas Term and the accompanying hive of activity, not to mention a run on the photocopiers towards the end of the month when people started gathering things to do over the Christmas Vacation.

In the Library we have been busy too, the KSL material for Korean Studies has been moved to the basement after re-labelling and a new consignment of books is being catalogued ready to be added to that as part of our Window on Korea project. These will be arriving gradually over the next few months; keep an eye on the shelves, or on SOLO! The Korea Room in the basement has also been in use (apologies to the group of students I barged in on last week!), which is excellent.

Our bit of reorganisation, moving the PLs and other small collections so that new metal shelving could be put in place has now been accomplished, and the new shelves look as if they have always been there, which is really the whole point of the exercise.

One of our regular book-moves to fill up gaps created by Kate’s reclassification project has been going on over the last few days. Do ask if anything has moved and you can’t find it! In most cases things have just shuffled along a bit, or possibly round a corner. Shelf labels will be updated when we have finished moving things.

Meanwhile, the Graduate Research Skills Toolkit session last week at IT services was well attended, and colleagues said that people were pleased to be given the chance to learn more about the various tools which are available for Orientalists.

Further afield, there have been a few problems with book deliveries due to large parts of Oxford being submerged last week, but the Porters soldiered through as best they could and the delays were minimal. Fingers crossed that we don’t get too much snow, or this may become a problem again.

Christmas Matters:

Vacation Lending is now in effect, and books borrowed at the moment are due back on the 14th January.

The Library closes for the Christmas break at 5pm on Thursday 20th December. Unfortunately, due to staff leave, we will not be open the preceding Saturday, 15th December, or on Saturday January 5th. Otherwise, we will reopen on Wednesday 2nd January and weekday opening hours will be as normal, 0915-1900.

Season’s Greetings from all at OIL!

On Shelfmarks, and why they are important

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As our new intake of students are finding out, shelf-marking at OIL is not always straightforward. This is an historical problem, and not one confined just to our library – for an overview of the situation at the Bodleian, I recommend the excellent Bodleian press-marks in relation to classification by G.W. Wheeler, (shelf mark – 2960 d. Oxf. 1.13) written in 1916 but still a valuable source for anyone wishing to understand why the systems used by the Library are so complicated.

But I digress. At OIL the problem arises mostly from the fact that our books have arrived here from several different sources and are subsequently classified in several different ways. This is reflected in the labelling systems we use, for example the collection upstairs contains black labels made of tape with white numbers, which follow a loose version of the Library of Congress Classification, and also the white-labelled books which follow the “Oxford” version of the Library of Congress Classification, developed for use by the Bodleian and other libraries. (There are many books on this subject on SOLO; but believe me, it’s not really that important that readers know how it works in any detail).

In the Library there are also (deep breath) books from the former Oriental Reading Room, reference books from sections including those downstairs, and in the basement there are several more schemes in use including the Hebrew section, numerical classification for the Syriac and other small collections, as well as the Indian Institute books which use their own scheme (which was designed to be used in the building which just finished being the History Faculty Library).

Most of the abovementioned are fairly easy for us to tell apart, and therefore when someone asks us about something from the basement we can usually say where it will be with some authority.

Where the confusion arises is with the ground floor collections, which mirror each other fairly broadly, especially in large sections like BP and PJ. It is VERY IMPORTANT when asking us about these that readers write down the whole shelf mark!! I know it’s a pain, and they’re long, and sometimes they make no sense, but if we’re given a shelf mark that’s written “PJ 6416… [I lost interest here]” we can’t give you accurate information about where the book is. We WANT to help, but we need more than just the first two elements of the shelf mark if we are going to do so.

There is also an ongoing programme of reclassification taking place, which means that the books with the black labels are gradually being relabelled and added to the new LC section. At the moment the BPs are being done, and all new books are also being added to LC.

In short, do feel free to ask us if you can’t find something, but PLEASE try to give us as much information as possible!

Thank you.

New Books Hilary Term 2011

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In all the bustle of term, I forgot to publish the list of new books for January 2011. So here are the lists from both January and February 2011. As always, the ones I could find on LibraryThing have also been added there: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/oiloxford

BM545.D3312 MAI 2002
Maimonides, Moses, 1135-1204. Dalalat al-hairin. Hebrew
Moreh nevukhim, Mahad. 1.
Universitat Tel-Aviv, 2002

BM545.D3312 MAI 2002
Maimonides, Moses, 1135-1204. Dalalat al-hairin. Hebrew
Moreh nevukhim, Mahad. 1.
Universitat Tel-Aviv, 2002

BP75.A764 ARM 2006
Armstrong, Karen, 1944-
Muhammad : a prophet for our time, 1st ed.
Atlas Books/HarperCollins, 2006

BP161.2.E85 ESP 2010
Esposito, John L.
Islam : the straight path, Rev. 3rd ed., updated with new epilogue.
International Islamic Publishing House, 2010

BP163.H643 HOF 2001
Hofmann, Murad Wilfried. Islam im 3. Jahrtausend. English
Religion on the rise : Islam in the third millennium, 1st ed.
Amana Publications, 2001 

BP192.S565 SHI 2008 Ref.
Luft, Paul
Shi’ism : critical concepts in Islamic studies
Routledge, 2008

BP192.S565 SHI 2008 Ref.
Luft, Paul
Shi’ism : critical concepts in Islamic studies
Routledge, 2008

BP192.S565 SHI 2008 Ref.
Luft, Paul
Shi’ism : critical concepts in Islamic studies
Routledge, 2008

BS580.E4 J3313 JAC 2009
Jacob, of Serug, 451-521. Homilies on Elijah. English & Syriac
Jacob of Sarug’s Homilies on Elijah, 1st Gorgias Press ed.
Gorgias Press, 2009

BS1225.52.C47 LIS 2011
Liss, Hanna
Creating fictional worlds : peshat-exegesis and narrativity in Rashbam’s commentary on the Torah
Brill, 2011

BS1334.S94 P4778 WAL 2008
Walter, Donald M.
Studies in the Peshitta of Kings : the transmission and revision of the text, relations with other texts, and translation features
Gorgias Press, 2008

BS1430.53.J37 JAP 2010
Japheth ben Ali, ha-Levi, 10th cent.
Old Jewish commentaries on the Song of Songs I : the commentary of Yefet ben Eli, 1st ed.
Peter Lang, 2010

BX106.2 G37 KAR 1970
Karekin I, Catholicos of Armenia, 1932-1999
The witness of the Oriental Orthodox churches : recovery, rediscovery, renewal, 2d ed.
[Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia], 1970

BX179.Y79 A25 YUH 2009
Yuhannan, Bishop of Tella, 482 or 3-538. Selections. English. 2009
John of Tella’s Profession of faith : the legacy of a sixth-century Syrian Orthodox bishop
Gorgias Press, 2009

BX377.J33 JAC 2009
Jacob, of Serug, 451-521. Homily on the partaking of the Holy Mysteries. English & Syriac
Jacob of Sarug’s Homily on the partaking of the Holy Mysteries, 1st Gorgias Press ed.
Gorgias Press, 2009

BX384.5.G688 GOT 2010
Tamcke, Martin, 1955-
Gotteserlebnis und Gotteslehre : christliche und islamische Mystik im Orient
Harrassowitz, 2010

DT95.7 EGY 1995
Vermeulen, Urbain, 1940-
Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk eras
Uitgeverij Peeters, 1995

KBP2000 FEL 2008
Feldman, Noah, 1970-
The fall and rise of the Islamic state
Princeton University Press, 2008

N6995.G4 A713 AMI 1968
Amiranashvili, Shalva IAsonovich, 1899- Gruzinskoe iskusstvo. English
Georgian art
Tbilisi University Press, 1968

PJ5802.O33 ODI 2009
Odisho, Edward Y.
Linguistic and cultural studies in Aramaic and Arabic
Gorgias Press, 2009

PJ7816.A678 M8613 BAR 2008 Ref.
Barghuthi, Murid
Midnight & other poems
Arc Publications, 2008

PJ7846.A46 A63 MAH 1966
Mahfuz, Najib, 1911-2006
Abath al-aqdar, [al-Tabah 5.]
Maktabat Misr, 1966

PJ7846.A46 K5 MAH 1958
Mahfuz, Najib, 1911-2006
Khan al-Khalili, [al-Tabah 3.]
Matbaat Misr, 1958

PJ7846.A46 R29 MAH 1982
Mahfuz, Najib, 1911-2006
Raaytu fi-ma yara al-naim, [al-Tabah 1.]
Maktabat Misr, 1982

PJ7846.A46 S2 MAH 1967
Mahfuz, Najib, 1911-2006
al-Sarab, al-Tabah 5.
Maktabat Misr, 1967

PJ7846.A46 T3 MAH 1965
Mahfuz, Najib, 1911-2006
al-Tariq, [al-Tabah 2.]
Maktabat Misr, 1965

PJ8005.8.Z99 H38 HAY 2008
Haydari, Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman
al-Sirah al-dhatiyah fi al-Mamlakah al-Arabiyah al-Saudiyah : bibliyujirafiya, al-Tabah 1.
al-Nadi al-Adabi al-Thaqafi, 2008

PK9104.D913 ZIZ 1969
Ziziguri, Sota Gruzinskii iazyk. English
The Georgian language : short review
Tbilisi University Press, 1969

PL105.T87 TUR 2006
Menz, Astrid
Turkiye’de dil tartismalari, 2. baski
Istanbul Bilgi Universitesi Yayinlari, 2008

PL245.E231 L4331 EDG 2010 Ref.
Edgu, Ferit, 1936-
Les : toplu oykuler (1953 – 2002), 1 baski.
Sel yayincilik, 2010

PL248.I777 M85 ISI 2010 Ref.
Isik, Haydar, 1937-
Multeci munzur : ani roman
Peri Yayinlari, 201

PL248.O3215 Z6 KOL 2009
Kolcu, Ali Ihsan
Ismet Ozel’in poetikasi : siir Okuma Kilavuzu, 1. basim.
Salkimsogut Yayinlari, 2009

PL248.T44 Z5 SUS 2010 Ref.
Susam, Asuman, 1968-
Yangin Yillari’ndan Nida’ya Ahmet Telli siiri, 1. basim.
Everest Yayinlari, 2010

PL248.Y248 G4914 YAL 2010 Ref.
Yalsizucanlar, Sadik, 1962- Gezgin. English
The traveler, 2. ed.
Timas, 2010

Z6370 IND 2000 Ref.
Sacchi, Paolo
Indice concettuale del medio giudaismo
Edizioni Qiqajon, 2000

Z6370 IND 2000 Ref.
Sacchi, Paolo
Indice concettuale del medio giudaismo
Edizioni Qiqajon, 2000

Z6370 IND 2000 Ref.
Sacchi, Paolo
Indice concettuale del medio giudaismo
Edizioni Qiqajon, 2000