Official Opening of the Official Papers Reading Room

After decades of ambitious hopes, years of detailed planning – and one rather frenetic summer vacation – the evening of Thursday 18 November 2010 was the time to thank those involved and celebrate the new Official Papers Reading Room, and the opening up of the LawBod’s ground floor to readers.

The evening opened informally in the  Staff Room

Sarah Thomas (Bodley's Librarian), Timothy Endicott (Dean of the Faculty of Law), Jeffrey Hackney (former chairman of the Libraries Board)

with home-baked cupcakes and champagne among the refreshments on offer.
The guests included Francis Reynolds and Jeffrey Hackney (both of whom had been at Oxford when the new kid in town was the innovation/luxury of a  separate Law Library!),  Mike Thrift and Kevin Green from Estates, John Duffy & Bruce representing the bookmovers, and Alison Felsted from C&RD.

Everyone then moved into the Reading Room for speeches from Ruth Bird (Law Librarian), Sarah Thomas (Bodley’s Librarian) and Professor Endicott (Dean of the Law Faculty).

Ruth Bird (Law Librarian), Sarah Thomas (Bodley's Librarian), Hannah Chandler (Official Papers Librarian)

All three speakers emphasised the vision,  collaboration and commitment required to bring about change.  Snippets from the Official Press Release (which can be read in full here) stress the predicted positive impact of the move “[The Bodleian’s] Official Papers collection is one of the most important in the world and for too long it has been hidden away in a corner of the Underground Bookstore beneath the Radcliffe Camera.”  “Housing the collection in the Law Library, which is located next to the Social Sciences Library, provides a more convenient point of access for social science researchers in a variety of fields.”

(Readers please note in future only water in screwtop bottles will be allowed into the Reading Room!)

After the speeches, the visitors were free to explore the new Reading Room: bright, accessible and clearly labelled.   There was a small display of gems from the Official Papers collection as well as a slideshow of the transformation over  summer 2010 (which can also be seen here) .

Andrew Milner - one of 3 specialist Offical Paper Staff

More details about the Official Papers Collection can be found on their web pages and, for readers interested in finding out in advance what resources are available, Hannah Chandler has written some online guides.

By 10am the very next morning, readers were already in evidence benefitting from open access, quiet study areas and specialist staff on site.

Official Papers reserve already in action: evidence of readers!