A couple of weeks ago at the start of December, Helen and I were given the very important task of decorating the library for Christmas. The beginning of December normally seems extremely early for Christmas decorations and is usually the time reserve for those eager Christmas obsessives however the very short terms at Oxford mean that Christmas must start at the end of November. We put up a Christmas tree in the main reading room and a colleague of ours, Ron was in charge of putting up the festive CD decorations.
Excuse the silly poses, we were getting into the festive spirit and feeling overcome with joy thanks to a tinsel filled afternoon.
So that’s the Bodleian Law Library decorated for Christmas. It’s nice to make the library look a bit festive around this time of year and decorating it early in time for 8th week was a good way of keeping those spirits up in the hectic close of term. We ran a guess how many decorations on the Christmas tree competition with great success and lots of entries were received. I had the fun task of counting the decorations as we put them up on the tree, numbers are not my strong point but I managed to keep track somehow. In case you’re wondering, there were 42 decorations on our tree this year! To make Christmas at the library even more of an event we held a shelf slip raffle at the end of 8th week. What’s a shelf slip raffle I hear you ask? Well everyone who is good enough to use a shelf slip to indicate that they’ve taken a book from a shelf was entered into a prize draw. Shelf slips were collected and placed in a box, then drawn out and the winning names received some Amazon vouchers!
It certainly makes the library seem like a more festive place this close to Christmas and our readers seem to like the tree. We are interested to hear festive tales from other Oxford libraries so feel free to share your thoughts.
Happy Christmas from Team Law ( aka Helen and Laura!)
Well done you two! I loved seeing these pictures – and thanks for the idea of the shelf slip raffle
The law library looks great! Very festive! I was in charge of decorating the christmas tree here but it is a bit smaller than yours. It has brightened up the enquiry desk and it certainly went some way to make me feel more in the Christmas spirit.
Your post has made me smile on a cold friday morning!
I don’t think the NHS would appreciate me making the library here ‘Christmas-y’! I’m also not sure how I would…. snowflakes across the screen perhaps? Reindeer flying along the top of internet page?!!!
The law library looks great; indeed very festive! I love the hanging CDs!
Yes, we too had to decorate the library in November so that the students actually had a chance to see it!
The stately grandeur of the main Taylor reading room has been compromised a little with lashings of tinsel. The rather austere looking marble busts are now sporting santa hats too. I’ll try and get some pictures up next week!
And I too liked the concept of a shelf slip raffle. Good idea!
Looks lovely! We’re very lucky to have two fireplaces in our library. So, naturally, we’ve hung up stockings:
http://oxfordtrainees.wordpress.com/files/2009/12/img_0089.jpg
So far, I’ve found a tiny Dairy Milk in mine (the sparkly one). They’re hung strategically by the Staff Fund notice:
http://oxfordtrainees.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/img_0088.jpg
Much like Adrienne, we’ve capitalised on having a fireplace in our reading room. No stockings though, sadly!
http://oxfordtrainees.wordpress.com/files/2009/12/christmas-2.jpg
And I think this would make a marvellous Christmas card….
http://oxfordtrainees.wordpress.com/files/2009/12/christmas2.jpg
Maybe I could fool people into thinking it’s my home!