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The Life Cycle of a BSF Book

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On Wednesday 26th October the 22-23 Trainees had their annual Book Storage Facility Tour. As this blog has seen a good 12 years of posts about the facility (we’ve been visiting since its grand opening in 2010) this year we thought we might do something a little different. Rather than wax lyrical on its 11m tall shelves (which would stretch 153 miles end to end) and its incredible collection of around 12 million items, we thought we’d start a little smaller and look at the life cycle of a single, solitary BSF book.

Ingenious Ingesting

White cardboard boxes are splayed open on a workbench, the top box is being held by a woman in a high-vis jacket to show the viewer.
Boxes for books

New books first arrive at the BSF through the Delivery Room and then progress onto the Processing Floor to undergo the process of ingestion. No, this has nothing to do with any bodily functions (thankfully), instead it’s the term we use to describe an item being welcomed into the Bodleian’s collections. For our book, this means first being given an all-important barcode. Barcodes are to Librarians what ear tags are to animal conservationists, we use them to track the movements of our respective objects of study. Without this barcode it would be impossible to find the item once it disappeared onto the near endless shelves of the BSF. Barcodes are assigned to books based on how they were acquired, barcodes starting with a number 7 are legal deposit items, and non-legal deposit books will start with either a 6 or 3.

Now that our book has a barcode attached to it, its height is measured, and it’s placed into a special paper box with other books of the same size. Our book gets only the best as this box is made of special acid-free paper sourced from Germany. The handle is also a specially made plastic, tested thoroughly to ensure that it won’t melt in a fire. The BSF has thousands of these incredible boxes across the site, and its one poor person’s task to take the flat nets and build them up into boxes. I’m told it’s one of the riskier jobs on the rota given the likelihood of vicious and painful paper cuts.

With our book safely nestled in its new home it’s time to go through some more scanning. Having already had a barcode stuck to its front cover and scanned into the system; the book now has its barcode scanned again to attach it to the barcode of the box it’s sitting in. It goes through this process not once, but twice, to ensure it’s not missed the first-time round. This method of grouping books into boxes based on their height rather than their contents may seem to be a textbook case of judging a book by its cover, but I can assure you that the BSF isn’t organising its books this way just to fit in with the latest BookTok trends. There is a logic to this madness.

Organising the books by height, as some storage-savvy librarians may already have guessed, is the most efficient way to

Tall industrial shelves extend to the ceiling with books on the various shelves, a forklift/cherrypicker runs between the two shelves.
BSF shelves and cherrypicker

make use of the space. Rather than one shelf accommodating books ranging in size from the tiny ‘Old King Cole’ (clocking in at a miniscule 0.9mm) to the unwieldy ‘Birds of America’ (an impressive 1×0.72m in size), the shelves at the BSF maximise their use of space and ensure no large gaps are left from having to accommodate books of diverse sizes. A further benefit to mixing up the collections this way, is that should the unthinkable ever happen and disaster strike, causing damage to some of the books, you’re less likely to lose an entire curated collection all at once. Happily, this is not something the BSF has ever really had to worry about, as it has a stellar record on the safety and well-being of the books in its care (12 years and no major incidents!)

So, it is with great care that various boxes of books are loaded up onto one of the building’s many forklift/cherry-picker hybrids and chauffeured into their new position atop one of the many towering shelves inside the BSF. Our books travel in style as the machine they are transported on is carefully designed to assure a smooth ride between the very narrow aisles of the BSF. The floor is laced with a magnetic wire that guides the machine with pin-point accuracy between the shelves to ensure there are no unfortunate accidents á la Rachel Weisz in her ground-breaking role as Evelyn Carnahan in The Mummy. Once our book has arrived safely in its place it is scanned once more to connect it with the barcode number for its specific shelf, then it goes into a cosy hibernation, waiting quietly for a wandering reader to stumble across its SOLO (Search Oxford Libraries Online) record and make a request.

Daring Deliveries

When this occurs, it’s time for our book to spring back to life. Its name will make a list of VIP books for collection, generated 6 times a day. If it makes that list before 10:30 it will likely be delivered the same day, any later and turnaround extends into the next day. Once the list has been picked, the book makes a return journey via cherry picker back to the Processing Floor where it is packaged into a special blue tote (fancy librarian name for a box)

A pile of books is neatly stacked inside a blue plastic box
Books in boxes

labelled with the name of the library where our reader wishes to receive it. That tote is then loaded onto a van (which runs this route twice a day) and then starts this mass migration of books from Swindon into Oxford. The van deposits the books at Osney where they are sorted into two further vans with different routes. Regardless of which route they take, our books will arrive at the library in good time for the reader to access them for whatever essay, tutorial or exam they might be taking part in.

Before the reader can access the book however, they need to know it is there – that’s where we librarians come in. At the Radcliffe Camera and the Old Bodleian, we receive deliveries sometimes as often as twice a day, although for most other libraries the frequency is a little slower. When those deliveries arrive, we must safely guide the delivery van into place, then carry all the boxes back and forth (being careful not to mix books returning with books arriving). The totes are carefully packaged so as not to be too heavy to carry but many are still hefty, clocking in at roughly 10-15kg each when full. Once the delivery is unpackaged, we gently scan each book and check it is correctly tagged for its reader to find with a Self-Collect slip, and then shelve it accordingly.

Once its reading period is over, the librarians will remove it from the shelves and begin the whole migration process in reverse. Upon their arrival back at the BSF, the books are sorted according to their barcode numbers, packaged back into the correct boxes, and returned to hibernation to await their next adventure.

Scrutable Scanning

A book rests the base of a machine which has a central pole extending from the back of the base up to house a scanning light above the book. There is also a glass plate that can be pulled down over the book, and various button on the base.
A BookEye scanner

Another important aspect of the BSF book life cycle is scanning. For books that cannot undertake the twice daily migration another option is available, as the BSF has been offering a ‘Scan and Deliver’ service (clearly named for all the Adam and the Ants fans out there) since 2012. Once again, our book will be placed on a special list, picked from the shelves according to the barcodes listed for its location and taken to a special room inside the BSF designed entirely to accommodate the massive amounts of scanning that takes place. The BSF is the most efficient of all the libraries’ locations in terms of scanning, and they are proud to note that they average around 45,000 pages scanned a month. It’s no doubt then that the staff in charge of scanning at the BSF are highly skilled at handling these books.

When scanning commences, each item is carefully lifted from its place on the scanning shelf and laid to rest in a special BookEye scanner. These scanners are specially designed to work with the book’s physiology and allow it to be scanned without damaging its spine or any other vital organs such as pages or binding. The book is then pressed gently underneath a sheet of glass and a bright light runs across it, logging every curve and line of the text within. The pages of the book are delicately turned, and the process repeated for every required page. A skilled scanner can complete an entire chapter without distressing the book at all. Once all the requisite information is recorded the book is lovingly returned to its nest in the bowels of the BSF.

Dastardly Dangers

So far you can see that the books within the BSF are incredibly well cared for and face little in the way of existential threats. In fact, many of the natural predators of the book are managed by the BSF in such a way that they pose little to no threat at all.

A large red pipe connected to multiple smaller pipes with levers and gauges
Pipes for the sprinkler system

One of the most prescient threats to the lives of our books is the risk of fire. Thankfully the BSF has ensured our books are safe from harm in that respect, they’re kept safe by massive 4-hour fire walls (and 2-hour fire doors) to minimise the risk of fire spreading from one book settlement to the next. There’s also an incredibly sensitive air sampling system connected to the building’s sprinklers and two massive tanks of water ready to extinguish any flame the moment it sputters to life. Despite its sensitivity, the sprinkler system has only ever had one false alarm in 12 years. The poor books caught in the ensuing deluge were diligently dried out by an outside firm and then returned happily to their respective nests in the store (although a few items still have visible watermarks from the incident).

Another potential danger to our books is pests. Many a librarian has known the horror of leafing through the pages of a book, only to find they have been nibbled on by a parasitic visitor. However, thankfully, conditions at the BSF are such that they discourage other forms of life from outstaying their welcome. The rooms are temperature controlled to a perfect 18°C and the lack of moisture and other food sources mean that any adventurous animals that might find their way in, such as woodlice or flies, often die off fairly quickly in an environment that is perfectly suited for nourishing books but hostile to pretty much everything else. This being said, pest control still makes a visit to the BSF every 5 weeks or so just to ensure no intrepid insects have braved the harsh conditions to gorge on the juicy pulp of book paper.

Thanks to these careful measures, the life expectancy for books at the BSF is long and it’s rare for books to die of unnatural causes under their care, so we can rest easy in the knowledge that the books under that big warehouse roof will have a long and happy life.

 

A long grey warehouse made up of a main chamber with a metal and concrete exterior and a smaller side chamber with a wood panelled front entrance.
The BSF (Book Storage Facility)

 

An Introduction to Early Printing at The Bodleian

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large wooden reproduction letterpress in the Bodleian workshop
Reproduction 17th-century printing press. This press uses leather ink balls to transfer ink to the form

Here’s a fun fact you might not know – since 1949, the Bodleian Library has maintained a range of presses for the purposes of teaching practical printing. On 23rd February, we were given a much-anticipated peek behind the Schola Musicae door in the Old Schools Quad, home of the Bodleian’s letterpress workshop. As library trainees, the focus of our session was early book printing, giving us an insight into the various processes that would have gone into producing the early printed books that some of us are lucky enough to work with as part of our libraries’ special collections. For purposes of numbers, we were split into two groups; one taking a morning session with Alex Franklin and the other an afternoon session with Richard Lawrence.

Over the three-hour session, we were introduced to three types of printing (letterpress, intaglio and planographic).

Letterpress Printing

The star of the show was the letterpress printing and we got the opportunity to create our own prints. Firstly, we had an overview of the principles of printing and how letterpress printing works, then we got to have a go ourselves!

 

Arranging the Type

Each set, or ‘font,’ of type is kept in a specially-compartmentalised trays (upper and lower cases), with a layout designed to make it easier to reach for the most commonly-used letters. Having divided up our chosen text, we were each stationed at a font and given a small composing stick to set our type in. Piecing a sentence together from reversed letters takes some getting used to — it’s easy to miss a spelling error or upside-down letter until the proofs have been printed. We worked from left-to-right, using the handy nicks in each piece of type to make sure every piece was pointing the right way.

sectioned wooden trays of metal printing type
Type cases of Caslon 12-point type

There is a lot to consider regarding the size of the font and the length of the lines on the pages, the size of the margins… many of the calculations were in fractions of an inch and made our minds boggle! 1/2 inch equals 72 points (the same as font sizes on computers); therefore 1 point equals 1/72 inch. You can see from the image below that our composing sticks had been set to 22 inches, as the 12 point font we were using would fit into it without any gaps remaining — or so we hoped!

Since any wiggle room could allow the type to shift or come loose during printing, we also used metal spacers to fill in the gaps between words and the ends of the lines, using a variety of pieces to keep everything in place as tightly as possible. Alex told us that a group of English MSt students recently visited to set extracts from M. NourbeSe Philip’s Zong in type as a way of considering the text’s interweaving of blank spaces on the page and silenced voices in history. As we learned through setting our own phrases, those empty sections require just as much time and attention as the letters themselves. Richard also discussed the influence of the printer on how a manuscript becomes a printed book. For instance, Mary Shelley’s manuscript of Frankenstein has very little punctuation; this would have been added by the typesetters and printers. What does this mean for interpreting a text?

hand holding metal compositing stick containing upside-down metal type
Composing stick and metal type

Once we had finished composing our lines of type, they were secured within a printing frame (forme) by an assortment of wooden blocks (furniture). Since these also have to be tightly fitted (lest we end up with type all over the floor en route to the press), this included pieces that could be expanded or loosened with a small key (quoins). Finally, our type was all set and ready to be used for printing.

 

Using the Presses

The workshop had many examples of presses that are used for education and for the study of printing and the history of the book. We had a brief demonstration of early printing on a reproduction sixteenth-century printing press, based upon a drawing by Albrecht Dürer. For our printing, we used a Harrild & Sons Albion Press of 1877, originally from Leonard Baskin’s Gehenna Press.

Metal type being inked using a roller
Inking the type

The first step in using the press was preparing our ink. Thick, tacky, and oil-based, it resembled shoe polish or treacle when first scooped out of the container. Although historical methods would call for round leather ink balls, we used a plastic roller to spread it out in an even layer, ensuring the full surface of the roller had been covered. The reason being that the leather ink balls aren’t very economical with ink when you are only printing up a small amount because much of the ink is absorbed by the leather.

Once the block had been inked and the paper positioned and protected from stray ink by a paper fisket, the whole bed was rolled under the flat weight (platen). A quick pull of the operating handle pressed the paper firmly against the inked block, and then it was time for the moment of truth! Examining our proof copies gave us a chance to catch typos and adjust block placements before setting up the printmaking production line in earnest.

Both groups had submitted some initial ideas for their prints in advance. The morning group presented a motley assortment of flowers, cats, and Vasily Grossman, and the afternoon group opted for some classic Tolkien quotes and imagery. Alex took the morning group’s ideas and used them to produce a risograph image incorporating pictures from the Bodleian’s Fox Talbot collection, which we then printed over with lines from Tom Lovatt-Williams’ poem ‘Oxford,’ while the afternoon group paired one of the quotes with a pre-made block of the Oxford skyline.

 

a metal tray is slide under the antique metal press and a hand pulls a lever to take a press
Pulling the press

Intaglio Printing

The workshop holds a variety of presses, and some of us also had the chance to try our hand at using a 19th-century star-wheel etching press for some intaglio printing.

While relief printing involves inking the raised parts of the block, intaglio is almost the opposite: the design is engraved into the plate, and, once the plate has been inked and wiped clean, the image is produced by the ink that remains in these lines.

The plate and paper are tucked beneath layers of blankets, which are then pushed through a set of heavy rollers by turning the wheel. That extra weight helps press the fibres of the paper into the texture of the plate, increasing the accuracy of the print. Dampening the paper helps this process. The result is a fine-lined image, perhaps with some shadowing from residual ink on the surface of the plate.

This section raised some questions about the replicable nature of printing – if someone was to make a print from an original etching by a renowned artist such as Rembrandt, would they then have produced a Rembrandt? Our general consensus was no: even the most historically accurate reproduction would still lack the inimitable individual touch applied through processes such as adjusting placements or applying and wiping away ink.

 

Planographic Printing

Richard also showed the afternoon group a stone used for lithography, a form of planographic printmaking which uses water- and ink-repelling substances on a flat printing surface to create the final image.

 

Final Prints

 

We all really enjoyed the session, and some of us hope to take up Alex and Richard’s offer to return to the workshop at some point in the future.

 

Recommended Books

We were recommended the following books by our workshop leaders, for those who have been bitten by the printing bug and want to find out more:

More Information

Ask a Trainee: Applying for the Traineeship FAQs

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Applications to be a Bodleian Libraries Graduate Trainee Library Assistant for 2022/23 are closing soon. Here are some answers from the current year’s library trainees to frequently asked questions about Applications and about the Traineeship.

 

FAQs about Applications 

Do I need loads of experience in libraries before applying? What sort of experience is suitable? 

As long as you can prove an interest in library work, extensive experience is not required. Being able to link the experience you have developed in past roles to key skills that are necessary in the library is an excellent way to prove your value with limited library work. 

Sainsbury Library enquiry desk — Customer service is valuable experience when applying for library roles

My only library experience was doing shelving in my university library before applying. What I did have was several previous part-time retail jobs that had experience I could draw on to answer interview questions. I wouldn’t worry about having extensive library experience before, any work experience is relevant and helpful! — Bodleian Law Library Trainee (Information Resources)

What might I be expected to know about libraries and information services?

It is more important to show an enthusiasm for working in libraries. And, although not required, an understanding of how to search databases and find academic resources would be beneficial. This could be a skill you have developed during your undergraduate degree, so don’t worry if you don’t have any professional experience.

If you currently have access to an academic or public library, I’d recommend speaking to the librarians and finding out more about the resources and other facilities they offer — there’s often more available than you might realise!

It is advantageous to have experience of library search tools, but this can be from your own university or local library. Oxford uses SOLO (Search Oxford Libraries Online). I had a play with it, so I was familiar with the system before my interview. — All Souls College Library Trainee

Do I need to already live in Oxford?

Not at all! Many of the trainees this year did not live in Oxford and several of them had never lived in Oxford before the traineeship. This year, there was even a group of trainees who moved to Oxford together and formed their own ‘Trainee House’. We have made a new page about Living in Oxford for more advice.

Not living in Oxford before or even during the traineeship is not a problem. Good public transport links (trains, buses, and a Park and Ride service) make it easy to get in and out of the city on a daily basis. I do this every day across county borders! — English Faculty Library Trainee

I wasn’t a student at Oxford. Does that put me at a disadvantage?

Absolutely not! Most of the trainees this year do not have a background with Oxford University and had not used Bodleian Libraries as a reader. Experience of Oxford University or Bodleian Libraries are not prerequisites and will not influence hiring decisions.

 

Can I apply if I graduated a while ago?

Of course! Some trainees in this year’s cohort applied whilst at university, but many others graduated several years ago. You do not have to apply directly after your graduation; the traineeship is also open to those considering a career change into libraries and information services too.

Absolutely! I graduated from my BA in 2018 and didn’t apply to the traineeship until 2021. After graduation, I spent two years living in London and working for an agency specialising in education. I had no idea I was interested in working libraries! The work as a trainee is really varied, so you learn a lot, whether you’ve just finished studying or have been working out of academic settings for a while. — St Edmund Hall Library Trainee

I already have an MA/MSc. Can I still apply?

Many of the trainees for 2021-22 already have an MA, MSc, or higher-level degrees. This is not a barrier to employment on this programme. However, the post is not suitable for anyone who already has an MA/MSc in Library Information Services/Information Management or equivalent.

 

Can I apply if I have already done a library traineeship or a library degree?

Unfortunately, no. These positions are intended for individuals who are keen to pursue a career in librarianship but would like a practical foundation in core librarianship skills at an academic institute, prior to potentially undertaking a library degree.

 

FAQs about the Traineeship 

What do you do day-to-day as a library trainee?

This can vary library-to-library but all the trainees from this year will be posting A Day In The Life piece in the following months, so stay tuned!

 

What do the training sessions involve?

Training sessions cover a variety of topics, all aimed at helping you to gain skills in core librarianship skills and expand your knowledge of the various roles within libraries. During the training year, each of us will complete a Trainee Project, which we present in a Trainee Showcase at the end of the year.

In general, we have training sessions on Wednesday afternoons; these have varied from library and special collection visits, cataloguing software training, and talks from library professionals. You can read about some of our training sessions on the blog, including our recent trips to the Book Storage Facility in Swindon and the Weston Library’s Special Collections.

 

Are there opportunities to pursue specific interests as part of the traineeship?

Of course! If there is an area you would like to learn more about, you can always speak to your manager, who can help you set up an informational interview with a relevant department or help you to organise shadowing.

All trainees undertake a project, usually in the spring/summer. This provides an opportunity for you to develop your knowledge in a specific area and make an individual contribution to your library. Examples of former trainee projects – from curated exhibitions to ethical classification projects – can be found on the blog.

 

Are there any significant differences between Bodleian and college trainee positions?

It’s difficult to apply general rules to this, as every college functions in its own way, and even different libraries within the Bodleian have variations in everything from duties to hours to team sizes. Each role is unique. You can read about daily library life at the different libraries on the blog.

Old Bodleian Library enquiry desks — reader services involves more interaction with readers

Whether you are in a college library or a Bodleian Library, you will not be missing out. Trainees visit some of the Bodleian libraries and college libraries during the training sessions, so you will have the opportunity to have an overview of the other trainees’ experience. In previous years, some trainees have organised ‘shadowing days’ in other trainees’ libraries.

You will be working as part of a larger organisational structure, in the Bodleian Libraries, and there may be the opportunity to work in different libraries for some roles. Bodleian Libraries positions are in one or more subject-specific libraries, so you’ll get some experience dealing with a very particular range of resources, while college libraries have a bit of everything, and handle things like acquisitions in a less centralised way. In my experience, you aren’t expected to have any prior knowledge of the area you end up in – my background is in medieval literature. — Bodleian Law Library / Sainsbury Business Library

College libraries, in general, have smaller teams. This means that you get to do a bit of everything. Many colleges have their own special collections, so you may have the opportunity to gain specialist experience with preservation and curating. You may be able to have some experience of being part of an Oxford college, but this varies college to college. Generally, you get free lunch, which is always a plus. Colleges are less busy out of term time in terms of customer interaction and some close during the vacations. — All Souls College Trainee

 

What happens after the traineeship?

If you are keen to pursue a career in librarianship, one option would be to apply for a place on a Masters in Librarianship/Information Management, though this is by no means necessary at the beginning of your career. You will hear more about the different MA/MSc courses during your training sessions so you can decided what is best for you. Alternatively, you can take the experience gained and apply for a position in a library, such as a Library Assistant role.

 

Any final bits of advice?

If this role sounds at all appealing to you, it is worth applying for.

Being a librarian isn’t just for people who studied English! Our trainee group this year come from a wide variety of subjects, including Medicine, Law, Politics, and Music.

There is more information about the Bodleian Libraries Graduate Training Scheme on the Bodleian Libraries website.

 

These are answers written by the current years’ trainees themselves to FAQs we have been messaged, or which had ourselves when applying and are subjective to trainees’ individual experience. You can read the Bodleian Libraries’ answers to FAQs about the Traineeship on the Bodleian Libraries website.

 

A Visit to the Weston

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On Wednesday 3rd November, the Graduate Trainees were treated to a special tour of the Weston Library, where the Bodleian Libraries maintains their conservation lab and special collections materials.

Conservation Studio

By Lucy Davies

My favourite Wednesday training session so far has been the visit to the Weston Library for a tour of the Conservation Studio and Special Collections. This trip really sparked an interest in book and paper conservation for me so I hope this blog post describing our experiences can do the afternoon justice.

According to the Bodleian Conservation and Collection Care team, their role is “to stabilize bindings, bound manuscripts and early-printed books with minimal interference to their original structures and features”. Part of their role also involves maintaining and caring for the open-shelf references books and lending items in the Bodleian libraries. Their responsibilities are extensive and there are a number of roles in the team, including Book Conservators, Paper Conservators, and Preventive Conservators. The Bodleian’s is the second largest conservation team in the UK!

When we first arrived, head of preventive conservation Alex Walker talked to us about storing library materials correctly. Alex’s job is to train the Bodleian Libraries staff to care for their collections and to oversee preventive conservation projects.  Her role includes managing and avoiding pest damage to the Bodleian’s collections, and she discussed with us the kind of damage that silverfish and woodworms can inflict specifically. As former students, we were all too familiar with a silverfish infestation, but had never witnessed the damage they could inflict on paper. Interestingly, silverfish graze along the surface of the paper, whereas bookworms burrow through from cover to cover – the more you know!

She showed us examples of damaged materials and explained how everything from temperature, location, humidity, and the material of a storage box can drastically affect the condition of books and manuscripts. The damage was quite extensive and highlighted for me the importance of preventive conservation and pest control in libraries, not something that had been at the forefront of my mind whilst working at the SSL.

Removing the framing of a document, sewing the binding of a book, and doing repair work on a book's spine.
Examples of conservation work performed by the Weston team, as displayed on bookmarks which are available to readers.

Once our skin was crawling at the thought of various insects, it was then over to Julia Bearman to show us the work she has been undertaking on the consolidation of paintings within a Mughal album. She showed us how she takes photographs of the work before beginning and then carefully marks on the photos every change or repair, however miniscule, so that everything done to the object is recorded. It is a slow and careful process that clearly requires patience. Additionally, Julia explained to us that the aim was not to make the book of paintings appear new again, as that could be misleading and unhelpful to those undertaking research. Instead, her aim is to stabilise it and preserve it enough to travel to exhibitions or not need further conservation work in the near future.

What was most interesting to me was that Julia explained she undertakes research for months before even touching a new project, which I thought was incredible, and highlights how much work goes into a conservation project before even picking up any tools. She speaks to other conservators and academics to gain an understanding of the object’s history, the materials it is made of, and what the aim for the conservation project should be.

Paper stretched on racks, someone filing some a wooden piece, and bottled liquids
Examples of conservation work performed by the Weston team, as displayed on bookmarks which are available to readers.

Finally, it was over to Andrew Honey who showed us how his role is to conserve and rebind books. Again, he outlined how the aim is not to make the book look like it was never damaged but to use minimally invasive techniques to stabilise the book. This is because invasive techniques or the use of certain materials can cause further damage down the line. Interestingly, leather is no longer used to repair broken leather book spines, but rather cloth is used, as this is safer for fragile materials.

He also showed us a book from Henry VIII’s personal library, which blew all of our minds to see, I think. It was covered in velvet as apparently even Henry’s books were not safe from his gaudy fashion tastes. It was fascinating to see it right there in front of us and to learn about how the Bodleian is conserving it so it can survive for future generations to learn from.

The tour of the conservation studio could have lasted days and we still wouldn’t have seen everything, but I learnt so much in the couple of hours that we spent there and am very grateful to the staff for taking time out of their day to share their expertise and experiences with us.

 

Special Collections

By Sophie Lay

After our time in the Conservation Studio, we took a much needed tea/coffee break in the café. From here, we met the Weston’s own Chris Fletcher: Keeper of Special Collections at the Bodleian.

Chris then proceeded to take us on a tour of the Weston Library. We travelled through a series of complexly inter-connected corridors and stairwells which, in retrospect, I cannot piece together at all. The building is a maze, but a delightful one full of treasures – perhaps leave a trail of breadcrumbs if you go exploring! The building weaves together classic and modern architecture, combining oil paintings and sweeping doorways with sleek exhibition spaces and glass viewing platforms.

The tour began with a glance into one of the reading rooms (the Rare Books and Manuscripts Reading Room, to be precise), an architectural delight with exposed stonework, skylights, and a gate-like entrance. From here, we travelled up to the roof terrace. The terrace is not a public space, as it backs onto a reading room so requires quiet, but fret not – we couldn’t possibly miss the opportunity to get a photo or two.

The view over the Clarendon, Sheldonian, and Bodleian Library

Chris then took us down to the Archive Room. Inside, two archivists were hard at work up to their elbows in material. We only saw glimpses of the pieces down there, but they covered a broad spectrum of subjects from OXFAM to the Conservative Party to Joanna Trollope. Chris assured us that in libraries, a dedicated archiving space of the size available at the Weston is a rare and special thing.

Then came the closed stacks, nestled out of public view and often discussed in whispers and covert glances. Of course, these spaces are highly secretive, so there is very little I’m allowed to tell you in a blog post. I can especially neither confirm nor deny the rumours of underground tunnels connecting the Weston stacks to the Radcliffe Camera and the secret wine cellars of the Sheldonian Theatre, Merton College, and All Souls College.

The next highlight for me was the Centre for Digital Scholarship. What had once started out as a few computers that researchers could use to view their rare books in close detail became rapidly swept up in the wash of digital advancement. The centre now exists as a hub for using cutting-edge and innovative digital tools to support multi-disciplinary academic pursuits as well as engaging with the wider public. They run workshops, seminars, and events – some invitation-only, and some open to the public. You can find out more information about that here, including the Digital Humanities School. What is particularly fascinating to me is how this work applies to librarianship, with digitisation projects already underway and the popularity of electronic resources rising among academics of all levels.

The final destination for our tour was the Bahari Room, where Chris showed us some of the rare items that the Bodleian is currently working on or has recently acquired. The talk was detailed and I could not possibly give away all of Chris’ trade secrets, but here are a few key points of our discussion:

  1. In buying special collections, time is of the essence. Pieces that are up for sale get snapped up incredibly quickly, so you have to act fast. Chris told us that he has received catalogues and picked up the phone to purchase items within minutes of delivery – only to find them already gone.
  2. Some of us took the opportunity to talk to Chris about how institutional collectors navigate cultural heritage and the question of repatriation: who owns an artefact? Where did it come from originally? Through what processes and hands did it end up in the collection? These questions are key in collections work.
  3. Collaboration and mutual respect are important within and between academic institutions. Sometimes multiple bodies team up to purchase certain collections that can be mutually owned. And sometimes, you have to know when another institution has a more vested interest than yours in purchasing a particular item. It pays to back off and let someone else win sometimes (though not always!)

The training session ended as most do, with fond goodbyes and a trip to the pub for the willing. I’ll spare you the details of that, and instead, leave you with a sneak preview of the rare artefacts shown to us by Chris Fletcher…

Rare Collections Material: According to Chris, this was the first bible bound by a woman.

An afternoon at the BSF

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On Wednesday the 27th of October, the 2021/22 cohort of trainees were given the opportunity to visit the Bodleian Libraries Book Storage Facility (BSF), on the outskirts of Swindon.

Why is the BSF necessary? A brief history of legal deposit:

  • The Bodleian Library is one of six copyright libraries in the UK, which entitles the Library to receive a copy of any material published in the UK, under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act (2003).
  • This elite status was first obtained by Sir Thomas Bodley, who was responsible for re-establishing the University Library in 1602.
  • Sir Thomas Bodley wanted to ensure that the library (now Duke Humfrey’s Reading Room) would thrive, continuing to be endowed with items. In 1610, he obtained an agreement with the Stationers’ Company, which ensured that the Bodleian Library could claim a copy of everything printed under royal licence.
  • As such, the collections belonging to the Bodleian Libraries have expanded significantly and exponentially over the last 400 years, with the current total standing at approximately 13 million items.
  • At the beginning of this century, concerns began to grow regarding the limited storage capacity in Oxford, and discussions for an offsite storage facility began.

The Bodleian Storage Facility in it's entirety, as viewed from the outside.

The BSF was officially opened in 2010, costing £26 million and housing 7 million books, maps, manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals and various other items that were slowly overwhelming the Bodleian’s dwindling capacity. The move took 15 months, with an average of 23,000 items being delivered, processed and shelved per day! The original idea was to store low usage items, drawing together collections from a variety of Bodleian storage facilities, including: the Underground Bookstore (now the Gladstone Link), the New Bodleian Library (now the Weston Library) and even some legal papers kept in salt mines in Cheshire!

Since 2010, the BSF has continued to grow. The collection now stands at roughly 9.5 million items, held on 153 miles of shelving and configured to accommodate various sizes of items. However being offsite doesn’t mean the books are inaccessible. The BSF team provide an essential service to readers through their book delivery service, which allows readers to access material held offsite, requested material being delivered to specific Bodleian reading rooms once a day, 5 days a week*. This allows readers to gain access to an incredible amount of physical material quickly and easily, which significantly benefits study.

*COVID scheduling still applies

Naturally, we were all very excited to visit the BSF, but in particular the trip was of interest to me as the Old Bodleian trainee. The Old Bod receives approximately 80% of the books ordered from the BSF, so I was determined to gain a greater understanding of the processes that allow items to be found, picked, processed and delivered to our library.

Arrival, Introductions and Lots of Tea:

The journey from Oxford to Swindon takes about 50 minutes, which is the route the delivery van takes twice a day to deliver and collect the books from our libraries.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Lindsay (Bodleian Storage and Logistics) and Chris (Collection Co-ordinator), who provided us with lots of tea and biscuits, before we were given an introductory presentation about the BSF. This included some brilliant information about the formation of the facility, and the ongoing projects that are being managed at the BSF. For example, libraries at different academic institutions have been able to store vast amounts of their collections whilst they renovate/remodel their own buildings.

The Processing Floor:

The Processing Floor. A large warehouse with several processing bays on the right hand side. On the left are trolleys loaded with books in archival trays.

Upon the conclusion of the presentation, we were shown directly into the processing room, which was actually the size of a small warehouse! This is where the majority of the work is carried out, accompanied by a rotating playlist of music chosen by the staff. On this occasion, we were treated to some 80s hits as we were led into the delivery room.

Delivery Room

The delivery room takes up the last part of the warehouse, and it is where the vans are loaded and unloaded with book deliveries. The room provides shelter, so that the books are never impacted by the weather.

Sending Books

Next, is the area where books are collected, processed and packaged – ready to be sent out to the various libraries for collection. Seven times a day, a list of requested items is printed, automatically organised into an order that allows the drivers to navigate the most effective route through the aisles. The books are then collected by staff, who package them into distinct trays to be processed. At this station, the books are scanned in to the computer and their end destination is listed. This information allows staff to know where the item is heading, which will dictate where the item needs to be stored before packaging. Just before delivery, these books are then boxed up, weighed to ensure that no box is too heavy for an individual to lift, and moved to the delivery room ready to be loaded.

Receiving Books

At the other end of the processing room is the returns desk. Here books are unboxed, scanned back into the BSF and placed on two distinct benches: legal deposit and non-legal deposit. Books are separated by size, and placed into rows according to their aisle location. These rows are also divided into grids. The grids help to manage the returns process, as they are the exact same size as the boxes that the books are packaged back into, in order to be returned to the shelves.

Stock Check Station

The final area that we were shown in the processing room was the stock check station. Here we were met by Lisa (Business Process and Project Manager), explained the importance of this station. In order to ensure that information about the books is correct and current, items are brought through from the stacks and scanned into the computer. This ensures that books can be easily located and readers can request items with ease, as items are accounted for at all times.

The Main Floor:

Following the tour of the processing floor, we were joined by Teresa (Team Leader at the BSF) and led up to a set of large doors, ready to be shown the internal workings of the main warehouse. As the doors slide up, the stacks were revealed – which at eleven metres high was a rather impressive and intimidating sight! A view of the book stacks, in the main warehouse. There are 5 aisles clearly in the picture, all 11 metres high and filled with books in archive trays.

The main floor is made up of 4 sections: two legal deposit and two non-legal deposit.

The warehouse is kept at approximately 50% humidity and temperature controlled at 18 degrees, with discreet fans to ensure any dust is removed, which all helps to preserve the books in the best condition. In addition to this, there are 15,000 sprinkler heads dotted around the facility, which are fuelled by two huge water tanks – in case of emergency. Although it seems drastic – and slightly horrifying – to think of books being doused with water, there are not many alternatives. Additionally, as Lindsay pointed out, there is a 1 in 6 million chance of a sprinkler being set off in error, and “it is easier to repair a book damaged by water, than a book destroyed by fire”.

Book Organisation

Books in the stack are organised by three barcodes, which are located:

  1. On the shelf on which the book is located
  2. On the box in which the book is located
  3. On the book itself.

This system allows for books to be easily moved to different locations in the stack, which is necessary when reorganising (for instance if books are heading back to be stored permanently in libraries, or are in high demand so convenience dictates a more accessible location).

A view down one of the aisles, showing the shelves disappearing into the distanceThis organisational structure allows books to be located in approximately a minute, which is very impressive, however the randomised order of books seems an alien concept to us as library trainees – where are all the shelfmarks?

Book Collection

Books are collected by staff, using machines that are a cross between a forklift and a cherry-picker. Staff will manoeuvre to the beginning of the relevant aisle, before they are magnetically connected to a metal guide on the floor, which allows them to navigate in precise straight lines through the narrow aisles. Once they reach the correct column of shelves, they are able to raise the platform to the correct shelf height and slide out the necessary archive tray. The books in the tray are naturally sorted according to popularity, as the high demand items are usually returned to the front of the tray.

Maps, Masks and Miscellaneous Items

Alongside the incredibly impressive shelves, the BSF stores a vast collection of additional items that don’t fit neatly into archive trays. These items are divided across 5 levels: 4 levels of plan-chests (thin drawers designed to hold the 1.5 million maps stored at the BSF – see below), and Plan-chests run along the left hand wall, with two shelves above filled with rolled up maps.1 level of additional shelving. The latter holds a variety of papers, artefacts and pieces of art from across the libraries. We were shown around 2 levels, which included viewing:

  1. A beautifully illustrated map of 1800s London, sketched from the view of a hot air balloon
  2. A horrifying death mask, courtesy of the Ashmolean museum
  3. An abnormally large book, created by gluing regular A4 sized pages onto A1 sized pages

The Scanning Room:

We concluded the visit with a look inside the scanning room, in which a dedicated team of two work through scanning requests from readers. This became an essential service for readers during the pandemic, as the scanning facilities allowed students to continue accessing resources remotely, when they were unable to enter the physical libraries. This service continues to be popular to this day, with the BSF team completing over 1000 individual page scans per day!

Final Thoughts:

We were all really thankful for the time that Lindsay, Lisa, Teresa and Chris took to make us feel welcome, and for their kindness in showing us around the BSF. Overall this was a brilliant trip and an unmissable opportunity to look behind the doors of the Bodleian Libraries largest storage facility.

 

© All images come courtesy of the Graduate Library Trainees, past and present (Daniel Haynes, Heather Barr, Lucy Davies, Sophie Lay)

Mushrooms, Cheese, and Other Challenges

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As part of the Library Graduate Trainee Scheme here in Oxford, we trainees take part in weekly sessions covering a variety of aspects of work in the library and information sector. This year the sessions have been conducted remotely over Teams, and so far have included topics such as reader services, working safely, resource discovery and supporting disabled readers.

A few weeks ago, we took part in two back-to-back one-hour sessions, with the first focusing on conservation and collection care and the second on special collections. I found both sessions so interesting that I thought it would be worth writing a short post about just some of the things the conservators and collection keepers at the Bodleian Libraries get up to.

First, we were given an overview of the Bodleian Libraries’ conservation work, including the different drivers behind collection projects and the three areas within which the conservation teams operate: paper conservation, book conservation, and preventive conservation.

Next, one of the preventive conservators talked us through a little of what their work entails, including IPM (Integrated Pest Management, to keep an eye on those sneaky insects who like books as much as we do), the environmental monitoring used to maintain stable conditions in libraries such as Duke Humfrey’s Library, and, finally, some of the more peculiar conservation challenges the team has faced over the years – including how to preserve a book made of mushrooms!

Then it was time to head over to the conservation workshop. In previous years, trainees visited the workshop at the Weston Library in person. This year, the workshop held their first ever virtual tour, delivered via tablet video call. The workshop itself is a large, airy, open-plan space, and we were shown around and introduced to several of the conservators and some of their current projects. (Did you know that you can use enzymes to separate pages? I definitely didn’t!)

After a short break, we “visited” the Special Collections, and had a “show and tell” of some of the more eclectic items held by the Weston Library, including a book of processed cheese (another left-field challenge for the preventive conservation team!).

Even though we were unable to visit the Weston Library in person, it was still a real privilege to be introduced to this side of the Bodleian Libraries and to get a flavor of the kind of expertise and care that goes into curating and taking care of its vast collections. A big thank you to everyone who made it possible!

You can learn more about conservation at the Bodleian Libraries by following @bodleianconservation on Instagram or finding them on Twitter (@BodCons), and you can take a look at the Special Collections blogs here: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston/finding-resources/scblogs

12 million books and a cherry-picker: Graduate Trainee visit to the Bodleian Storage Facility

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Working from home for the foreseeable future, locked-down librarians are wistfully recalling the rustling of pages, the gentle bustle of readers, and that unmistakable eau de bibliothèque. Whilst the Bodleian is working hard at ‘keeping the University reading‘, and we’re all getting used to Teams and Zoom, a VPN’s no substitute for being among the books. So, while we’re all yearning for more library in our lives, what better time to revisit our 2019 trip to the Bodleian Storage Facility — which holds more books than anyone can imagine.

Exterior of the Bodleian Storage Facility (Wikimedia Commons).

Some quick facts:

  • The BSF opened in 2010, with an initial capacity of 8.4 million items
  • It sits on a 17-acre site just outside of Swindon
  • The BSF replaced the New Bodleian (now the Weston Library) as the main storage site
  • Following reconfiguration, the BSF now holds over 12 million items
  • A book delivery service to departmental libraries operates twice a day on weekdays
  • In October 2015, the BSF fulfilled its one millionth book request

 

The Grand Tour

Our visit began with a talk by Boyd Rodger, the (then) Logistics Manager of the BSF. Boyd gave us a run-down of the BSF and the book delivery service. The BSF differs from a library in a few important ways. Items at the BSF are organised only by size, which should scandalise any librarian. You won’t find any readers here, either, and you can’t browse the BSF’s shelves in any conventional sense — but you can order any book from the BSF to arrive the following weekday, or that afternoon if you got your order in before 10am. Every item is barcoded, so requests placed via SOLO are logged by the BSF’s computer system, which tells staff where to find books and the optimal order in which to pick them. Once gathered, requests are boxed in the processing area and loaded onto vans for delivery. At their destination libraries, deliveries are scanned in and returns loaded back onto the van. Efficiency is key, because book delivery is a vital part of Reader Services at the Bodleian Library. Boyd told us that e-books aren’t threatening to close libraries — in fact, the Bodleian is buying more physical books than ever.

 

Processing floor at the BSF, with books to be sorted on trolleys.

So how do you store 12.5 million books — and not only books, but maps, manuscripts, microfilms, periodicals and newspapers too? By 2009, the New Bodleian (which had 11 floors of space) as well as facilities at Nuneham Courtenay and a salt mine in Cheshire (yes, really) were at capacity. Costing approximately £25 million, and involving the biggest book-move in the Bodleian’s history (6.5 million items!), the BSF needed some serious storage. As we entered the main warehouse, it became clear that they really pulled it off.

 

Interior of the Bodleian Storage Facility, showing its unusual classification system: books are organised by barcode; the books in each box become organised naturally by usage.

 

BSF lift in action!

The BSF is huge. Its shelves are 11 metres high and over 70 metres long. Before the automatic lights kick in, the narrow aisles seem to converge into darkness. We wore high-visibility jackets to alert staff driving the book-retrieval vehicles to our presence. A cross between a cherry-picker and a forklift, these vehicles are configured to fit exactly between the shelves, allowing staff to retrieve an impressive average of one book per minute. Although I personally wouldn’t like to be 11 metres up in the air, Boyd assured us it’s a very safe operation!

During downtime, staff at the BSF conduct stock-takes and look for ways to consolidate and optimise the available space. For us trainees, Boyd’s most important lesson was that future-ready libraries must be logistically and spatially adaptable:

  • Low-use books kept in storage might suddenly become grow in demand and require relocation ‘on-site’, or vice-versa;
  • Renovation or building work might require temporary storage (in fact, the BSF currently holds several thousand volumes from Cambridge), so could your facility accommodate for that?
  • Existing space can always be reconfigured to meet new challenges and needs;
  • Since an off-site facility means books always moving around, could it also offer research facilities? Some libraries are considering specialised reading rooms to avoid transit for fragile or valuable material.

Perhaps most importantly, as the current crisis forces libraries everywhere to re-imagine services, the BSF’s dual role in storage and logistics brings it to the fore of the Bodleian Libraries’ updated Scan & Deliver service. Pre-lockdown, photocopies of material in storage were useful for scholars who could not visit a library; in our cautious post-lockdown world, it’s clear that the ability to provide resources remotely will be vital.

All of this is a far cry from what the librarians of yore imagined. As a trainee at the Weston Library, I was aware of the building’s history as the old stack, and of the early-century conveyor belt that famously transported books underneath Broad Street to the Old Bodleian. I wondered how books were kept before it was built, and the archives obliged…

 

Crowds gathered at the New Bodleian Library (now Weston Library) for its grand opening in 1946 (photograph from the Rare Books office).

 

A Brief History of Space

In 1908, the incumbent Bodley’s Librarian, E. W. B. Nicholson, made a public plea to save the Proscholium from a grim fate as a glorified bike shed. The idea is barely conceivable to us now: the Proscholium, refurbished in 2009, has become a central hub for students and tourists alike. But in Nicholson’s day the Library was short on space, and every available nook was in danger of being turned into storage. The acquisition of the entire Old Bodleian quadrangle by 1859 (which had, according to Thomas Bodley’s vision, housed examination and teaching rooms) and the Radcliffe Camera in 1860 couldn’t match the rapid growth of the collections. In 1909, work began on the Underground Bookstore beneath the Radcliffe Camera (which now houses the Gladstone Link), the Library’s first purpose-built storage solution. At the time, it was the largest bookstore of its kind in the world. The Oxford Chronicle for 29th November 1912 recorded the opening speech of Nicholson’s successor, Falconer Madan, who even at that moment was conceptualising more storage:

‘Then will be the time for the engineers to set to work burrowing on the other side of the Camera, so that another quarter of a century’s growth may be provided for by a second subterranean chamber’.

The prophetic Madan foresaw that ‘within fifty years every college and institution will have a receptacle for its stores beneath its front quadrangle’ — in recent years, St John’s, Magdalen, and the Queen’s College have all completed very similar projects. What’s also interesting about Madan’s speech is the admission that even the Bookstore represented borrowed time. Sure enough, within that quarter of a century, designs were drawn up for another new storage facility that would provide some respite for the Bodleian’s beleaguered librarians and cataloguers. Giles Gilbert Scott’s design for the New Bodleian won him the contract, but here are a few proposals from the archives that didn’t make the cut:

 

Designs for a new library — Top: a neo-classical edifice spanning the Old Bodleian and the Clarendon Building, but at the expense of the Sheldonian prospect; Bottom-left: a strikingly modern idea, possibly located near Port Meadow; Bottom-right: building here would have sacrificed much of University Parks.

 

One particularly dreadful design would have seen the Old Bodleian’s Quadrangle roofed over and the resulting central compartment turned into stacks. Although in concept this isn’t too far removed from the New Bodleian, I’m sure we’re all glad it was rejected…!

In 1602, Thomas Bodley could not ‘rest as yet satisfied’ with the small number of books in his new Library, but predicted correctly that an influx of donations could only influence more. Centuries on, and the Bodleian has benefited from enormous donations, greatly increased buying power, and the strengthening of its historical legal deposit. It’s anticipated that the Bodleian Storage Facility will get an extension within the near future, as more and more items pour in. A modern history of the Bodleian, then, is one of exponential growth — 220,000 printed books in 1849; one million books in 1914; some 12 million today — and a far cry from the modest 2,500 tomes that once comprised Duke Humfrey’s Library.

 

Duke Humfrey’s Library: engraving from David Loggan’s ‘Oxonia Illustrata’ (1675) (Wikimedia Commons).

 

Reinventing Libraries- Part 2 of E Developments Graduate Trainee Session

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On 20th November 2019, the graduate trainees attended a session on E Developments at the University of Oxford’s Libraries. The first talk was given by Sally Rumsey, Head of Scholarly Communication and Data Management. She covered open access regarding academic research, which was featured in a blog post last week. The second talk was given by Michael Popham, and was all about digital developments at the Bodleian libraries.

When I first told my family and friends that I had got a job as a trainee in an academic library for a year, most of them were very supportive and happy for me. Others, not so. The most frequent comments I received was…

‘Do we still need physical books when everything is online?’

As ignorant as that comment seems, the people that said it did have a point. If you have a browse on Solo or any other academic catalogue, many resources have been digitized and are available electronically. My former university’s library advertised its resources available online with posters describing how their collections of physical books was ‘only the tip of the iceberg’. Their E resources appeared to be vast and unlimited in comparison to their smaller, physical book collections.

The physical books are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to academic libraries!

Michael Popham, head of Digital Collections and Preservation, opened his talk discussing how digital libraries are the future. The Bodleian already has a Digital Library. At the moment, the library is purely online, where it pulls all digital collections into one discovery platform. However, Michael suggested how a digital library could become a physical space. It is interesting to think of how this space would look. Would a digital library be a place to study with a few more PCs than a regular library? Michael suggested that the word ‘digital’ implies that the library would be expected to be open 24/7. Anything digital, after all, should be instantly usable and accessible even on Christmas Day! A digital library would contain services and tools to support discovery, access, and reuse of digital content.

So if digital libraries are the future, will we now see less of the printed book? Maybe, but not at such a fast rate as one would expect. There are many issues with digitization and for the Bodleian Libraries, the main problem is that digitization lacks consistency. This is because the university currently relies on grants and funding, in order for projects to go ahead. Books which are earmarked for projects tend to be strongly visual in nature, as digital collections are driven by what the team receives funding for. According to Michael, the funding bodies and even the team behind the digitization process often have an agenda which affects how the digitized books are presented. There could be more of a focus to digitize certain aspects of manuscripts and subconsciously ignoring other areas of interest. These issues are difficult to address, as accessing funds is integral to enable a digitization project.

The Bodleian was the first outside of the US to join the Google Books Partner Scholarship. It was a huge project which aimed to digitize the library’s vast collection of non-copyright material. Google digitized books at an incredible rate. Overall, 300’000 works were digitized, including board games, binding designs, museum objects, CDs, and tapes! However, there were many cases of books which had not been moved or opened in over 150 years, being unable to fit on their previous shelves. During the digitization process, these books had expanded, leading to a huge pile up when it came to reshelving. Books involved in digitization projects are often older and rare manuscripts, so they require further special handling and conditions which affect the cost of projects. In order to digitise such material, the Bodleian uses special scanning machines. The cradle of these machines uses a vacuum which gently sucks the pages down. These machines are certainly cool, but are not without their high financial cost.  

Digitization isn’t just for old manuscripts either. The Bodleian Electronic Archives and Manuscripts (BEAM) is a digital repository service which manages born-digital archive and manuscripts. The service was established as the Bodleian was receiving an ever-increasing amount of digital material. This material can come in the form of whole computers, disks and other types of external media. This brings the future of digitization into a new light. How do we process information which is already digital? The files stored on devices may appear in older file formats with no equivalent paper form. BEAM’s existence is integral as it allows the Bodleian to adapt to the digital age. Electronic legal depositories are important as in 2003, the revised Copyright Act of 2003 recognised that much of the nation’s published output in digital form was being lost. The Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-print) Regulations 2013 was passed to address this. Any digital publication is covered under the Regulations including CD-Roms, works published online that are issued from a UK domain, and items on microfilm. The British Library and the National Libraries of Wales and Scotland collect the material on behalf of all Legal Deposit Libraries. Bodleian readers can access these resources using the British Library’s digital system. Restrictions do apply, as these resources will often display an amber dot next to it on Solo. This indicates that the digital resource can only be accessed on a Bodleian terminal. These restrictions are often annoying for readers who may have to patiently wait their turn to view a resource, as the system will only allow one viewing at a time. However, preservation of digital material is essential to prevent future loss.

Preserving digital material is essential

So is digital preservation the future for the Bodleian? It certainly seems so, but the scale of digitization is not as rapid as one may think. There are 13.2 million printed items at the Bodleian libraries, with only half a million digitized. Overall, that is only 3-4% of all collections. Rare manuscripts are being digitized, but that does not mean they are instantly thrown away! They are reshelved and preserved for future generations to enjoy. So, the printed book isn’t going anywhere. The digital age also poses new problems for digitization, in that digital resources can easily disappear if technology does not exist to access them. 

E Developments at the Bodleian appear to be concentrated on adapting to the rise of the internet, either by ensuring that good quality research is freely available and that manuscripts and digital records continue to be digitally preserved. One may say that the concept of libraries is being reinvented. Information does not need to exist physically in order for there to be a need to organise, maintain, and preserve it. Libraries are no longer necessarily physical spaces, they can be virtual ones which are easily and freely accessible. And that certainly makes for an exciting future. Many thanks to Michael Popham; this post is based on his original and fascinating talk.

For More Information:

To see the Digital Bodleian for yourself: https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/

For more information on BEAM: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/beam

Picture Credits:

Iceberg, Rita Willaert, https://www.flickr.com/photos/rietje/76566707/in/photolist-7LqBD-FR7C4F-4oN9jm-YMrydu-PPqJhB-ZjKcnp-nriVKy-24teKYF-2cspuq7-bzN6sW-Ewoi2-7ryN1h-9cr7Hf-utjEv7-HhMKU-j2UXkm-7M5qKc-SCgvfN-uCnjP-6FzvPG-8SjsBk-JcZy8S-6sgjc-Ews2ai-Vyzdyv-7C5VU3-CHq3N3-hTp4Dg-VuEuZB-dRuMzt-F4qkYF-EfrZaX-Nn2nXz-bJQusz-6r7MwV-Cd2ngQ-7XiHcy-D3fkcT-oe39w-53biiQ-5V5evP-7JqhZY-23SzkvZ-7jLyJG-gcucpK-4CgUBb-2hiaBzm-8qxaMx-6r7MMt-5PUh2p

Memory stick, Sh4rp-i, https://www.flickr.com/photos/85638163@N00/4193757695/in/photolist-7oA74a-6tUYAs-6tUYzy-6tUYyw-p8gg6K-8DvsW-4HNdv7-261BKnD-H43vF2-6hcXNN-4TxvvC-9hneDd-6hcXJj-mFWvM-9hneA3-9hj7yM-6DWkAB-mFWFM-E78fsZ-HRD28U-4KCZUd-6Fz4Qj-71ZiH9-8hQQ4w-7W6m5B-DmgcFC-ouDJ95-6m23DD-22fMfJp-5U19C6-22YwBXe-21cVaTX-24jSdC1-wBgEv-bjZCoo-oqisc3-3Wxph-5ZuNL2-mGG5Dn-pVxW13-4sTq9Z-dhm2pq-MnVMJS-dhm2UQ-dhm2C3-KPWTmF-7nzMe3-dhm1g8-BVCg6H-MnVMW5

 

Reinventing Libraries- Part 1 of E Developments Graduate Trainee Session

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On 20th November 2019, the graduate trainees attended a session on E Developments at the University of Oxford’s Libraries. The first talk was given by Sally Rumsey, Head of Scholarly Communication and Data Management. She covered open access regarding academic research.

The Oxford Research Archive (ORA) was established in 2007 and aimed to provide open access research to researchers. Its establishment was viewed as important after the research charity Wellcome Trust released a position statement in 2005 in support of open and unrestricted access to published research. They would fund research, but it had to be made freely available.

Before 2012, it was only Sally and one assistant who were the main team behind ORA. The digital repository was established in 2007 and had been plodding along with a mere 100 research articles to process each year. Then 2012 hit and in Sally’s words ‘all hell broke loose’. Suddenly, the team were receiving over 1200 articles to process into ORA, as well as their first budget of £800,000!

So what happened to cause such a barrage of  information? The 2012 Finch report was published by the UK government which recommended that all funded research had to be made freely available. The rise of the Internet since the early 1990s appears to have been underpinned by a desire to provide easily accessible information and research. At the time, Tim Berners Lee was honoured at the Olympic Games in London as the inventor of the World Wide Web, where as part of the ceremony he tweeted ‘This is for everyone’.

Was online academic research for everyone? If you tried to access articles on publisher’s sites, they would generally attempt to seduce you into signing up for a subscription fee (and this still happens!). The average cost for a subscription is certainly not cheap as chips. Needless to say, this did not provide an incentive for the public to want to gain reliable and good quality information. The Finch report highlighted this issue and recommended that everyone should be entitled to gain access to information. It was clearly time to tear those paywalls down.

In 2014, the big cheese, the Research Excellence Framework announced a policy which required researchers to deposit publications into their institutional repository within three months of acceptance. This led to ORA beginning to request academics to Act on Acceptance in 2016. This means that when an academic has a paper accepted for publication, they must deposit the final peer-reviewed version into ORA within three months of acceptance.

As you may imagine, publishers have had to slowly come around to the idea of open access. The author pays model as highlighted in the Finch Report is becoming increasingly popular. The author or institute pays a fee to the publisher in order for their research to be published. This enables the research to be freely accessed. According to Sally, you can have a fully open access journal where all contributors are paying to publish. But then, there are hybrid journals which have an author pays model but also a subscription fee for readers. This has been labelled by critics as ‘double dipping’ as the publisher benefits twice.

And it’s not just money that’s another issue with publishers and open access.  Academics may end up forfeiting their rights to their own work if they are not too careful. Sally said that publishers started to put restrictions on what could and could not be used when researchers wished to use their work elsewhere. SHERPA/RoMEO is a handy online database which has records researchers can assess, so they can find out what exactly they are permitted to do with work published in various journals. Although SHERPA/RoMEO is undoubtedly a useful source, the publisher’s policies can be so confusing that Sally’s team often have to decipher the terms in order to work out what the researcher can actually do.

Wherefore art thou…a right to own my work?!

This can mean that if a researcher innocently posts their work on sites like Academia.edu and ResearchGate, a publisher may take action since they are seen as going against the copyright agreement. The savvy academic will get around this by choosing to remove the terms they don’t like from the agreement with a black marker before signing it. We may assume that this would incite the publisher to come after the badly behaved academic with an iron fist, yet Sally says that often publishers will merely shrug. The Creative Commons, a non-profit organisation, also allows academics to retain control of their research since it enables users to choose a free copyright licence in order to share their work. ORCID is also another way of being able to share research without infringing copyright law. Researchers can apply for a unique identifier which they can use to get credit for their own work.

So what is the future for open access when it concerns academic research? Research Data Oxford (RDO) is a data management plan which provides guidance for each stage of the research process. RDO is a multi-disciplinary effort, involving various teams across the university including Sally’s, but also legal and ethical teams. In this way, researchers can be guided through the minefield that is online publishing.

The Reproducible Research Oxford (RRO) initiative will also come into play in January 2020. This is managed by a group of academics who believe in ensuring that research is bullet proof and good quality- which means that the methods academics use in their research should be made freely available too! Through this, RRO aims to lay the groundwork of a culture of research reproducibility at the University.

Finally, there is the Plan S  initiative. Plan S requires that by 2021, scientific publications which result from research funded by public grants must be published in compliant Open Access journals or platforms. This may sound like a policy but it isn’t. Plan S is guidelines funders may choose to use, but don’t be fooled that it’s entirely optional. Supporting funders include The Wellcome Trust, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organisation and the European Union.

Hopefully, with more policies and initiatives like the ones discussed in this post, the world of academia will be able to continue to adapt to the idea of open access and digitized research. Many thanks to Sally Rumsey who gave the original, interesting talk on which this post is based on. Next week will feature the second talk given by Matthew Popham. It will be all about Digital Developments at the Bodleian Libraries, so stay tuned! Also coming up very soon is a post about the Copyright Training staff can receive.

Useful Links:

For a general history of open access in academic research https://osc.cam.ac.uk/open-access/brief-history-oa

To read the Finch report https://www.acu.ac.uk/research-information-network/finch-report-final

For more on the double-dipping phenomenon https://www.enago.com/academy/hybrid-journals-are-publishers-double-dipping/

To check out SHERPA/RoMEO http://sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/index.php

Follow the link if you are interested in obtaining an ORCID http://ox.libguide.com/orcid

To find out more about Research Data Oxford http://researchdata.ox.ac.uk/

For more information on Reproducible Research Oxford https://rroxford.github.io/

To find out more about Plan S https://www.coalition-s.org/

Picture Credits:

‘This is for Everyone’- Tama Leaver https://www.flickr.com/photos/tamaleaver/7674657708/in/photolist-cGbCmC-cF54aq/ image was cropped and resized

‘SHERPA/RoMEO’- Dasapta Erwin Irawan https://www.flickr.com/photos/d_erwin_irawan/36487105886/in/photolist-XAeXow image was unaltered

 

 

Michelmas Term Round-Up

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Hello! Now that Michaelmas term is coming to an end, Bethan and I thought we would do a round-up post about some the things we have been up to so far.

  • PGCE workshop

In September we had the opportunity to participate in an information literacy training session for new PGCE students with the Education Librarians. This included helping the students utilise the online library catalogue and make the most of the libraries to aid their studies. We also showed them tips and tricks on sourcing academic journals, articles, and books.

Beth says – This session highlighted the importance for new students to learn key skills about using the library catalogue and finding e-resources to aid them in their studies. We got the opportunity to participate in the group work parts of the session to offer suggestions and help when needed, as well as the individual exercises. Although I was supposed to be helping with the teaching, I ended up learning a lot myself!

Emma says – Teaching the PGCE students really helped to confirm what I knew about the library system and it was a great opportunity to put some of the training into practice in a different setting.  We worked with other members of staff from the Education library and two Swiss interns so we had a lot of support! The PGCE students were really friendly and it was a good session to be a part of.

  • Training sessions: which have we enjoyed so far?

During this term we’ve had the opportunity to have practical and theoretical training at Osney. Training sessions have been varied this term, including an interactive session on customer care, an introduction to cataloguing using the Oxford library system, as well as a presentation on applying for courses in library and information studies. Here’s what we each enjoyed the most:

Beth says – In November we got the opportunity to visit the BSF, a warehouse where over 11 million of the Bodleian’s collections are held. There was an informative presentation about the challenges and logistics of the facility, as well as how it is developing. This includes issues of storage space as the collections grow, and improving sustainability to reduce its environmental impact.  We were also given a tour of the facility, which highlighted how efficient the process is to ensure that the books are delivered to the libraries on time, twice a day. Indeed, apparently it takes experienced staff members less than 45 seconds to pick a single book – which is very impressive considering the size and scale of the warehouse.

Emma says – The visit to the Weston Library and having an introduction to the Special Collections in October was a real eye-opener. After an £80m refurbishment the Weston Library, originally called the New Bodleian Library, opened in March 2015 after work began in 2011. The library now has a lot more space including areas for research, public galleries, and a cafe. It was a pleasure to be shown around the conservation department, to see the archivists at work, and to see behind the scenes at the library. As the Weston is so different from the Business library, it was a worthwhile opportunity to see the different roles within librarianship. It was great to see how the conservationists take care of the old books, maps and the libraries themselves.

The Book Storage Facility, aka the BSF, in Swindon

  • Internet Librarian International (ILI) conference, London

In October we were fortunate enough to go to the ILI conference in London due to the sponsored places offered by FLIP and NLPN. There were six of us in total that went from the Bodleian libraries and we all took away a lot from the experience. There were lots of different talks and presentations, from AI to tips for searching relevant information.

Beth says – A session I particularly enjoyed was about how libraries can utilise digital technology to increase reader accessibility. For example, a case study discussed the DAISY Consortium, which is an organisation which aims to improve the reader experience for people who are blind or print disabled by making digital talking books an industry standard across libraries worldwide. Indeed, the clear theme across the conference was about how libraries can develop in the digital age, as well as the challenges this brings. Myself and a few of the other trainees who attended contributed to a blog post for NLPN about the conference here: https://nlpn.wordpress.com/2018/11/01/internet-librarian-international-info-today-sponsored-places/

Emma says – During the conference we were invited to a session by Liz McGettigan about how to be an information professional in the 21st century. This was an informative session about how to advance our careers, what skills we would need to move forward, and how best to develop them. This was a great opportunity to see what paths were before us and give us an idea of what we could do in the future. Working in a library we are able to learn many new and transferable skills, some of which we’re not always able to recognise, so this was a great session to bring out in us what we’ve learnt so far and what sort of roles we would like in the future.

Ben Gable, Katie Day, Bethan Morgan, Jennifer Garner, and Emma Gregory at the ILI conference in October 2018.

Outside of the training programme the trainees meet up fairly often after work. For example, some of us went round the Oxford Open Doors event in September together, visiting Baliol College, Blackwells, the Examination School, and the New Theatre. We’ve frequented a game board café, where we played a variety of card and board games. Luckily, we didn’t fall out too much! Two trainees, Elspeth and Lauren, started a book club. So far, we have read Annhiliation by Jeff Vandermeer, Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, and we’re currently reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. We had the weather on our side on Bonfire Night when we went to watch the fireworks at South Park. Recently we had our Christmas dinner which nearly all of us attended. It was a great night with great food and company.

Next term looks to be quite busy. We’re looking forward to a new set of training sessions, which includes a visit to Oxford Brookes library and a visit to the digital archives. We can’t wait to see what the next year will bring!

Merry Christmas and a happy 2019 from all the trainees!

By Bethan Morgan and Emma Gregory

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