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Old Bodleian Library

The Old Bodleian Library, also called the ‘Old Bod’ is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. Confusing, it can be referred to as just the Bodleian Library. It is connected to the Radcliffe Camera by the underground Gladstone Link. It has three historic reading rooms: the Lower Reading Room, the Upper Reading Room and Duke Humfrey’s Library.

LGBT+ History Month 2026

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A photograph of the towers of Exeter College and Lincoln College. Both colleges are flying the progress pride flag from their flagpoles.

Exeter and Lincoln College, taken on Turl Street. 

A photograph of the entrance to Hertford College where the classic rainbow pride flag is being flown from the flagpole.

Hertford College, taken from Upper Reading Room. 

February was LGBT+ History Month in the UK, and across the Bodleian we marked the occasion in style. This year’s theme was Science & Innovation, looking at the lives and contributions of past queer pioneers, as well as how science has impacted the LGBT+ community both positively and negatively throughout history. In this post we’ve gone through our libraries’ collections to pull out some key resources on queer history from the shelves.  

LGBT+ History Month is a great opportunity to learn more about queer history and culture, but the learning doesn’t have to stop after four weeks. Visit your local library and check out some of the books we’ve highlighted, or do your own deep dive into the LGBT innovators of the past – after all, who doesn’t love going down a research rabbit hole? You can also visit the official Schools OUT website where they’ve prepared some resources, useful links, and an events calendar to get you started. Finally, we’ve signposted some Oxford events and resources at the end of the post, so keep reading! 

History Faculty Library – Catherine

The trainees in the Old Bod & Rad Cam aren’t responsible for putting together our themed book displays, but our libraries still marked LGBT+ history month with a host of interesting books and e-resources. 

The HFL’s open shelves are well-stocked with books on the history of sexuality and the history of science; finding the overlap between these subjects can be more challenging, but if you look out for them, you’ll find some fascinating stories. This year’s display focused particularly on biographies and studies of LGBT innovators, looking closely at the lesser-known parts of their lives and identities. As well as shining a light on queer historical figures and authors, our display looked at queer communities’ relationships with health and medicine over time. I’ve highlighted a few select works below, but for a full list of books on the display and topical e-books, check out the History Faculty Library blog and pick one out for yourself.  

A copy of 'The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke' by Jeffrey C. Stewart. The cover features a portrait of Alain Locke against a white background - he is an African American man with short cropped hair dressed in a white suit.
A copy of 'Leonardo: the artist and the man' by Serge Bramly. The cover is a sepia-toned drawing of da Vinci's face in profile.
A copy of 'Before AIDS: gay health politics in the 1970s' by Katie Batza. The cover is a pink-and-purple toned photograph of drag queen Nurse Wanda Lust, with an inset of the performer Stephen Jones.

The New Negro: the life of Alain Locke by Jeffrey C. Stewart 

Alain Locke (1885-1954) was a philosopher, author, and academic, best known for being the first African American Rhodes Scholar and for publishing an anthology on race, culture, and politics titled ‘The New Negro’. Locke was an intellectual activist and a strong proponent of racial equality but was not outspoken about his homosexuality in the same manner during his life, viewing it as a point of unique vulnerability. In this biography, Jeffrey C. Stewart provides a full overview of Locke’s experiences as a gay black man at the forefront of an intellectual movement, exploring his personal relationships and his long search for a life partner.  

Leonardo: the artist and the man by Serge Bramly 

Originally published in 1988, this translated biography attempts to reconstruct the mysterious life of one of the most famous innovators of all time. Everyone has heard of Leonardo da Vinci: the original Renaissance Man was a painter, an engineer, an inventor, an anatomist, a theorist, and more. However, a lot of knowledge about his personal life is speculative, second-hand, and subjective, including theories about his sexuality and his alleged trial for sodomy. This book explores Leonardo as an artist, looking at his astonishing scientific career, and as a man, musing on his relationships and his identity.  

Before AIDS: gay health politics in the 1970s by Katie Batza 

Many LGBT studies into the history of medicine focus on HIV/AIDS, and for good reason, but this book looks past that to find another significant story. It explores the well-established ‘self-sufficient gay medical systems’ which existed across America long before AIDS emerged. Born from fears of being outed or having their sexuality pathologised in mainstream institutions, gay health centres provided advocacy, advice, and treatment for queer men. Katie Batza follows these clinics from their foundation to the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, revealing how they helped shape the politics of health and sexuality in modern America.  

Bodleian Old Library – Rebecca

While we didn’t have a dedicated display in the Old Library, there are plenty of hidden gems on our shelves. In-keeping with the theme for the 22nd UK LGBT+ History Month, I’ve picked out some titles from and about LGBT+ scientists and innovators. 

A copy of 'Berlin's Third Sex' by Magnus Hirschfield. The cover features two similar-looking people dressed in conventionally masculine and feminine outfits respectively.

A recent addition to the History New Books Display in the Upper Reading Room is a 2025 re-issue of Magnus Hirschfeld’s ‘Berlin’s Third Sex’. Hirschfeld established the Scientific Humanitarian Committee, the first gay rights organisation and advocacy group, as well as the Institute for Sexual Science. As a doctor, he employed scientific principles in the fight against homophobia and transphobia, even advocating for gender-affirming care. 

Just to the right of the display, in the history of science section, you’ll find ‘The Very Idea of Modern Science: Francis Bacon and Robert Boyle’. Natural philosophers Bacon and Boyle were both instrumental in the development of the scientific method. There’s also evidence to suggest both men were gay, with the latter being one of LGBT+ History Month 2026’s featured historical figures.  

A copy of 'Uncle Tungsten: memories of a chemical boyhood' by Oliver Sacks. The cover features a black and white photo of a middle-aged man and a young boy (presumably Sacks himself).

Oliver Sacks’ (first) autobiography, ‘Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood’, can also be found here. It wasn’t until he published his second autobiography, towards the end of his life, that he spoke openly about being gay. Sacks was a Queen’s College alumnus and neurologist by trade. While perhaps best known for his polarising writings, he nonetheless led a successful medical career and co-founded the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function at the Beth Abraham Hospital. 

Just downstairs, in the Philosophy Room, there are several titles relating to the renowned Judith Butler, author of ‘Gender Trouble’. Their work is certainly innovative, with their impact extending beyond feminist and queer theory into several branches of social science. Most notably, they founded the International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs. Butler is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. 

A copy of 'The Sociology of the NHS' by Margaret Stacey. The cover features a pair of surgical tongs holding a length of thread.

And finally, tucked away in the Lower Gladstone Link, you’ll find a 1974 issue of The Sociological Review’s Monograph Series edited by Margaret Stacey. Stacey was a sociologist, lecturer, and researcher. She was particularly active in the field of medical sociology, helping to re-conceptualise it as ‘a sociology of health and illness’. Aged sixty, she and fellow academic Jennifer Lorch became partners. 

Taylor Institution Library – Jules

The Taylor Institution Library (otherwise known as the Taylorian), is the university’s Modern European languages and literatures library. As such, a ‘Science and Innovation’ theme is not particularly in the wheelhouse of our collections! Nevertheless, I did my best to highlight the LGBTQ+ History that is present on our shelves. 

Here are the books I chose: 

  • Strangers : homosexual love in the 19th century 
  • Sophia Parnok : the life and work of Russia’s Sappho / Diana Lewis Burgin 
  • Gendering the Portuguese-speaking world : from the Middle Ages to the present 
  • A little gay history of Wales / Daryl Leeworthy. 
  • Becoming lesbian : a queer history of modern France. 
  • In a queer time and place : transgender bodies, subcultural lives / Judith Halberstam. 
  • Queer roots for the diaspora : ghosts in the family tree / Jarrod Hayes. 
  • Time binds : queer temporalities, queer histories / Elizabeth Freeman. 
  • Polari, the lost language of gay men / Paul Baker. 
  • Courtly and queer : deconstruction, desire, and medieval French literature / Charlie Samuelson. 
The LGBT+ History Month book display at the Taylorian. The shelves are filled with books and surrounded by miniature progress pride flags.

Social Science Library – Summer

Unlike the Taylorian, this year’s theme of ‘Science and Innovation’ paired perfectly with our collections at the Social Science Library. The SSL is well stocked on books around LGBT+ political activism, anthropological and sociological perspectives, and the history of sexuality. For this book display, I drew upon books in the SSL and CSF which highlight the contributions made by LGBT+ scientists, inventors, and innovators across the social science subjects. I also selected material in the collection that reflects how science has sometimes been used to medicalise and pathologise LGBT+ identities, reminding us how we need to continue addressing these issues today. 

The LGBT History Month display at the SSL.

I have included a selection of titles from the SSL book display here, but for a full list check out the Social Science Library blog post on the subject.

Sainsbury Library – Heidi

I really concentrated on the “innovation” part of the title when compiling my display, as it aligns well with the business school’s focus. I aimed to highlight technological developments, innovative ways of thinking, and innovators in their fields, all in relation to LGBTQ+ history. 

The library’s LGBTQ+ Business Resources LibGuide proved an invaluable starting point for exploring the relationship between LGBTQ+ history and the business world. My subsequent research inspired me to divide my display into four groups – Businesses, Memoirs, Technology, and Economics – based on the broad themes I saw within the Sainsbury Library’s collections. 

A full description of the display can be found on my Sainsbury Library Blog post! 

The LGBT+ History Month display at the Sainsbury Library. This is the 'businesses' section, featuring books on organisations and corporations.
The LGBT+ History Month display at the Sainsbury Library. This is the 'memoirs' section, featuring books on innovators and individuals.

Signposting

Every LGBT+ History Month the University of Oxford hosts a flagship lecture, panel, or speaker event. This year’s event, ‘What about queer?’ was a panel discussion on the evolving use of the word ‘queer’ and its significance in academic, political, and cultural contexts. Keep a look out for a summary or recording, which will likely go up sometime in March. In the meantime, have a look at this recording of the 2025 lecture, ‘Losing and Finding Oneself Through Queer Poetry’. 

If you’re looking for more recommended reading, take a look at these nonfiction reading lists prepared by the New York Public Library and Chicago Public Library – or if fiction is more your thing, have a look at these recommendations by Essex County Council and UCL.  

Finally, for more library resources on LGBTQ+ history throughout the year, check out this LibGuide made by a former HFL trainee. There’s information on Oxford researchers working on LGBTQ+ history, guides to databases and archives, and a whole host of material organised by topic, time period, and format. Pick a subject and get reading!

Day in the Life of a Bodleian Library Trainee

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7:30am

Bright and early, I brave the drive to Park & Ride and jump on the next bus to the city centre. I use the bus ride as an opportunity to make good on my resolution to read every day (one I’m already failing at). I’m currently reading Elizabeth Kolbert’s ‘Life on a Little-Known Planet’.

8:30(ish)am

I usually arrive around this time, ready to start by 8:42am. I’m on the Main Enquiry Desk three mornings each week and today is one of them.

9:00am

1817 draft manuscript of Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem, 'Ozymandias'.
1817 draft of ‘Ozymandias’ (Percy Bysshe Shelley, via Wikimedia Commons).

Once I’m logged in, I start working through the Reader Services inbox.

Most enquiries are run-of-the-mill: how to navigate SOLO, how to join the library, finding a specific collection or resource, advance orders, donations, basic IT troubleshooting. Others, not so much. Just the other day, someone got in touch to request high-resolution images of the Shelley’s 1817 draft of ‘Ozymandias’ as a tattoo reference!

Then there’s the more technical enquiries, which we tend to refer onto teams who can provide specialist support – copyright, bibliographic maintenance, AI. Recently, I’ve updated the directory document to ensure we have up-to-date contact details and to make these easier to retrieve. Mostly for my own sake, as I inevitably find myself scrambling to find these while on the phone.

11:00am

Two hours sounds like a long time, but it flies by when you’re having fun. That is, when you’re falling down rabbit holes researching a writing desk that supposedly belonged to Charles Dickens, or speculating on the existence of ‘a blue room with a bust of Caesar’ in one of the many Oxford libraries (both actual enquiries). Now is a good time for a quick twenty-minute break before getting back to it.

11:20am

The desk is somewhat quieter than usual, leaving me with some time to work on other tasks and tidy up my personal inbox. Following a recent change to the Bodleian Libraries’ lending policies, University members are now permitted to borrow books published from the year 2000 onwards from offsite storage (with exceptions). As part of my project, I’ve been analysing fulfilment data to understand how this has impacted lending in the Bodleian Library, so I crack on with this.

Balliol College on Broad Street, Oxford. A row of old limestone buildings against a blue sky with a few clouds.
Balliol College on Broad Street back in September.

1:00pm

Just like that, my shift on the MED is done. I find a quiet corner in the Reader Common Room to have some lunch before heading out to stretch my legs. With the days still being short, it’s not often I get to see Oxford in daylight.

2:00pm

This afternoon, I’m on Banksperson & Delivery duty, which involves guiding the van, packing and unpacking totes, processing the delivery, and getting items to their respective reading rooms. The good news is there’s no rain. The not-so-good news it’s a small delivery, so there aren’t many interesting titles to remark on (like ‘Cooking Spinach‘ by Jane Grigson, a favourite from a past delivery).

3:00pm

As there’s nothing on my rota for the rest of the day, I head upstairs to the Upper Reading Room to catch up on odd jobs.

Recently, I attended the first of two half-day sessions of Carbon Literacy training. To obtain my accreditation, I need to submit a form demonstrating what I learned from the sessions, along with two pledges that I can action in the workplace. This is just one example of the many learning and development opportunities that trainees have access to as employees in the Garden, Libraries, & Museums (GLAM) division; there are many ways to tailor your trainee experience to your interests. I’m keen to see how my academic background aligns with ongoing work to decarbonise the GLAM division and broader heritage sector. I also use this time to work on some documentation for my main project and do some research for another side project I’m working on.

In between, I help a few readers with resetting passwords, using the printers, and finding books. Readers are still getting used to there being a circulation desk here in the Upper Reading Room, so it’s not uncommon to get confused people searching for their books.

5:00pm

And that’s my Friday finished – see you next time!

Day in the life of a History Faculty Library trainee

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8:10 

I dash out of the house to get the bus with my housemates, only to find it’s delayed again and there was no need to rush. One thing I’ve learned about Oxford is the buses are always late, except when you need them to be.

8:42  

My workday officially begins! This morning I’m on the reception desk in the RadCam first thing, so I’m responsible for opening the Lower Camera. This mostly involves moving ladders, switching on computers, and making sure any books left over from yesterday are reshelved. Thankfully, everything is still neat and tidy from closing last night, so it’s quite a quick process. 

The Lower Camera, empty and in dim morning lighting. It is a large circular room with bookshelves running along the walls and a central 'island' of bookshelves in the middle.

9:00 

The bells of St Mary’s toll and the library is officially open. Sometimes it takes a while for the library to fill up, but today there’s a line of readers all the way down the path as soon as we open the doors – term is definitely in full swing. 

While on reception you’re responsible for answering enquiries and making sure people can access the library okay. Despite the constant flow of readers, it’s a relatively quiet shift: I help some people having issues with their university cards, direct one reader to Admissions to get a temporary access pass, and help someone looking for their lost property. In between queries, I pick out any lapsed items from the hold shelf and return them on Alma so they can go back to the CSF with the morning delivery. When we started offering offsite loans this year we had to double our holds space, and we’re still running out of room! 

10:30 

My desk shift has ended and it’s time for a little break, so I head to the reader common room to eat my belated breakfast and listen to a podcast. I’ve been enjoying No Such Thing as a Fish recently – I think every librarian needs a mental reserve of fun facts.  

10:50 

Break time is over, so it’s time to head down to the scanning area as I’ve been given fetching duty today. This involves collecting up all the books which are going to be scanned for readers this afternoon. Sometimes the list is quite small, but today it takes me to every reading room in the library! Thankfully, everything is on the shelf where it should be, so I can find it all quickly.  

Having collected everything, I still have a lot of time to spare, so I mark out the requested pages in each book for the person scanning later. This helps me spot that one reader has asked for a chapter which doesn’t exist, so I email them the table of contents to clarify what they’re looking for. Copyright law restricts the amount of any given book we can send to readers, so it’s important to make sure people are getting the sections they actually want.  

12:00 

I’ve opted to take the later lunch slot today, which means I have some free time now. The library has really filled up with readers now and the reshelving trolley is looking quite full, so I decide to do some shelving, which takes me all the way down to the Lower Gladstone Link. Predictably, while I’m there a reader asks for help locating something in the Nicholson sequence (our complicated old shelf system), so I explain how it works and help them find their book.

A row of books on a shelf in the Lower Gladstone Link.
Nicholson books, just waiting to confuse a reader

12:20 

I head upstairs to see if there’s any new books to process, but there’s none waiting for me. I decide to do some relegations instead – my manager has identified some books which can get moved from open shelves to storage, so I edit the item record and package them up to go offsite. The shelves in the HFL are constantly overflowing and we need all the space we can make! 

1:00 

Lunch time! I don’t dare face the tipping rain today, so it’s back to the reader common room with my sandwich and my water bottle. It can get quite packed in there around midday, because it’s the only space in the library where food is allowed, but luckily I’m able to find a seat.  

2:00  

A copy of 'The Love Spell Box' by Gillian Kemp: a colourful red box containing several 'spell cards' and a book of ways to use them.

This afternoon I’m scheduled to help with the book delivery in the Radcliffe Camera. The Old Bodleian and Radcliffe Camera combined get the most offsite requests by far, so we get our daily book deliveries direct from the CSF, and delivery duty involves transferring items from the van to the delivery room to the collection points. I help unload the crates of new books, scan them into Alma, sort them into loanable and self-collect piles, and move them to their appropriate shelves. Then, I collect any items to go back to storage, scan them out, and package them up for when the van comes tomorrow!  The best part about this shift is spotting the different books people have called up – today the highlight is this collection of love spells.  

3:15 

After all that heavy lifting it’s time for another break – the rain has stopped, so I head across the road to Blackwells to have a quick look at what’s new.  

3:35 

To finish off the day I get on with some trainee project work. I’m currently working on improving accessibility for a grey literature collection which was housed in the History of Medicine library before it closed last year. Forty archive boxes of material ended up being sent offsite: my project involves designing a LibGuide to promote the collection, as well as creating a physical handlist for each box. For now, I’m calling up boxes from storage so I can inventory the contents, note any cataloguing errors, and digitise any particularly valuable items. It’s interesting work, especially when the collection throws surprises at you. For instance, the box I’m currently working on is entirely in German… which I can’t read. 

Two small pamphlets written in German. They are a tract on skin diseases and an exhibition catalogue on the history of medicine, respectively.
Some examples of the pamphlets I’m working on at the moment

4:30 

Having finished going through one box quicker than I expected, I put my project away for the time being and start working on this blog post.

5:00 

The evening staff arrive to take over, and it’s time to head home. As usual, I hurry to the bus stop outside the library, and manage to just miss my bus. Like I said, always late except when you need them to be… 

2025 Black History Month Displays

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Who doesn’t love a book display? We’re sure you want to know all about the books we’ve displayed this month, and we are here to provide! 

Trainees often end up working on book displays throughout their year, and we’re no different. A few lucky trainees got to start working on their first displays within our initial few weeks. Each library has their own approach to displays, with unique spaces, signage, and book selections. 

The theme for Black History Month 2025 is ‘Power and Pride’, where Power represents ‘the influence, leadership, and capacity to effect positive change’ and Pride reflects ‘cultural identity, heritage, and the celebration of Black excellence.’ 

Here’s our takes on the Black History Month theme this year, with a spotlight on some of our favourite books. 

Taylor Institution Library – Jules McGee-Russell

My first reaction when I found out I’d be taking on the displays at the Taylor was, admittedly, panic. I had one week to research suitable books from our collections, which are mostly made up of books in languages I can’t read, with historical contexts I don’t know much about. Luckily, after many hours searching our catalogue on SOLO, chats with Subject Librarians and colleagues, and several trips up and down all our stairs, I had a very nice stack of books from both the Teaching and Research Collections. 

I wanted to stick closely to the theme and include as many different languages and cultures as I could. I chose books that focused on Black European visionaries and icons of influence, Black excellence in the arts, the power of Black protest movements, and Black experiences across Europe. I made an effort to include books from as many areas of our library as possible. I ended up with books including Germany, Portugal, Brazil, France, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Wales, Russia, Linguistics, fiction (poetry), and biography. Not bad for a speedy one-week display! 

I hope my display showcases the breadth of our collections and will encourage readers to explore this area in their studies.  

I was able to put the large display in the Teaching Collection, right next to the Issue desk and the Self-Issue machine, where plenty of people will see it! 

Books included:

Aimé Césaire : inventor of souls by Jane Hiddleston.

This biography focuses on one of the most influential Caribbean literary writers, Césaire. Césaire was a Martinican poet, playwright, politician, and co-founder of the movement ‘Négritude’, which sought to restore the cultural identity of Black Africans.

Black Paris : the African writers’ landscape by Bennetta Jules-Rosette ; foreword by Simon Njami.

Black Paris explores three generations of African writers in Paris between 1947 and the mid-1990s. Using archival, ethnographic, and historical research in addition to interviews with writers of the new generation, this book explores their writing and identity.

Blues in schwarz weiss nachtgesang : Gedichte by May Ayim.

This poetry collection is written by established Afro-German writer/activist, May Ayim.

Farbe bekennen : Afro-deutsche Frauen auf den Spuren ihrer Geschichte by May Ayim, Katharina Oguntoye, Dagmar Schultz (Hg.)

A collection of texts by Afro-German women about their experiences.

Access the translated version online, Showing Our Colors : Afro-German Women Speak Out

Mapping Black Europe : monuments, markers, memories by Natasha A. Kelly.

This text highlights unrecognised contributions by Black communities to the cultural landscapes of eight European cities. Black scholars and activists examine monuments, markers, and memorials to excavate these obscured narratives.

Access this book online

Frantz Fanon : a biography by David Macey.

This biography centres on Frantz Fanon, an influential Martinican psychoanalyst and social philosopher, known for his notable works Black Skin, White Masks and The Wretched of the Earth, about the effects of colonialism on racial consciousness.

Access on Bodleian Reader PCs

Language in the inner city; studies in the Black English vernacular by William Labov.

Originally published in 1972, “Labov probed the question “Does ‘Black English’ exist?” and emerged with an answer that was well ahead of his time, and that remains essential to our contemporary understanding of the subject.”

Mobilizing Black Germany : Afro-German women and the making of a transnational movement by Tiffany N. Florvil.

“Tiffany N. Florvil examines the role of queer and straight women in shaping the contours of the modern Black German movement as part of the Black internationalist opposition to racial and gender oppression…including Audre Lorde’s role in influencing their activism; the activists who inspired Afro-German women to curate their own identities and histories; and the evolution of the activist groups Initiative of Black Germans (ISD) and Afro-German Women (ADEFRA).”

Access this book online

Signs of dissent : Maryse Condé and postcolonial criticism by Dawn Fulton.

“Maryse Condé is a Guadeloupean writer and critic whose work has challenged the categories of race, language, gender, and geography that inform contemporary literary and critical debates. In Signs of Dissent, the first full-length study in English on Condé, Dawn Fulton situates this award-winning author’s work in the context of current theories of cultural identity in order to foreground Condé’s unique contributions to these discussions.”

Access this book online

The stolen prince : Gannibal, adopted son of Peter the Great, great-grandfather of Alexander Pushkin, and Europe’s first black intellectual by Hugh Barnes.

This book focuses on the historical figure of Gannibal, a kidnapped and enslaved young African who was adopted by tsar Peter the Great, who “soared to dizzying heights as a soldier, diplomat, mathematician and spy” and “founded a dynasty of his own in Russia, where he came to embody the strengths and weaknesses of the country itself.”

Terms of inclusion : Black intellectuals in twentieth-century Brazil by Paulina L. Alberto.

“In this history of black thought and racial activism in twentieth-century Brazil, Paulina Alberto demonstrates that black intellectuals, and not just elite white Brazilians, shaped discourses about race relations and the cultural and political terms of inclusion in their modern nation.”

Access this book online

Tribuna Negra : origens do movimento negro em Portugal (1911-1933) by Cristina Roldão, José Augusto Pereira e Pedro Varela.

This book highlights the little-known Black movement in 1911-1933 Lisbon that “fought racism, demanded rights for populations in colonized territories, and… engag[ed] in dialogue with forms of Black internationalism, such as Pan-Africanism.”

Globalising Welsh studies : decolonising history, heritage, society and culture, edited by Neil Evans and Charlotte Williams.

This text explores “the development of Welsh Studies through the lens of race/ethnicity. Contributors from history, heritage studies, literature, film, policy, social and cultural studies offer case analyses adopting new perspectives, theoretical routes and methodological innovations, with the aim of illustrating aspects of the decolonising of knowledge production.”

Access this book online

Voices of negritude in modernist print : aesthetic subjectivity, diaspora, and the lyric regime by Carrie Noland.

“Carrie Noland approaches Negritude as an experimental, text-based poetic movement developed by diasporic authors of African descent through the means of modernist print culture. Engaging primarily the works of Aimé Césaire and Léon-Gontran Damas, Noland shows how the demands of print culture alter the personal voice of each author, transforming an empirical subjectivity into a hybrid, textual entity that she names, after Theodor Adorno, an “aesthetic subjectivity.””

Access this book online

Social Sciences Library – Summer Mainstone-Cotton

Luckily, unlike some of the other trainees, I had plenty of notice to work on my Black History Month display – it’s been in the works since mid-September! With 22 books covering a broad range of social science subjects from our collection, it proved to be quite the research challenge for my first month!

My aim for the display was to represent as many areas of the social science subjects as possible, while showcasing broader aspects of Black British history. During my research, I was particularly interested to discover several titles in the Bodleian’s collection that focus on Black activism within the University of Oxford. Two that stood out were Malcolm X at Oxford Union: Racial Politics in a Global Era by Saladin M. Ambar and Rhodes Must Fall: The Struggle for Justice at the Heart of Empire ed. by Brian Kwoba, Roseanne Chantiluke, and Athinangamso Nkopo.

This made it all the more disappointing when some books arrived from Swindon in plain black hardback covers, with their vibrant dust jackets removed for preservation. As a result, there are a few titles I would have loved to include in the SSL’s book display that, unfortunately, didn’t make the final cut. Overall, though, I’m happy with the selection of titles in the book display and the balance between academic texts, Women political leaders in Africa by Rosemari Skaine, alongside poetry and fiction texts: Saluting our sisters ed. by Cherron Inko-Tariah, and Girl, woman, other by Bernardine Evaristo.

Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library – Olly Marshall

With our collections split into a few distinct subject areas, it can be difficult when making displays for all of them to be properly represented. We have loads of fantastic resources on black artists in our upper floor collections, but I was particularly keen on displaying resources on black voices in archaeology which are often overlooked both within the wider field of archaeology and within our own collections. Some of the highlights included:

The first Black archaeologist: a life of John Wesley Gilbert by John W.I. Lee.

This biography looks at the life of John Wesley Gilbert, from his education in segregated Georgia in the late 19th century, his research trip to Greece with the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 1890-1891, returning to become Paine College’s first black faculty hire and his missionary work later in his life.

Black Feminist Archaeology by Whitney Battle-Baptiste.

This book is the first of its kind in outlining how black feminist thought and philosophy can be applied to archaeological theory and practise. Battle-Baptiste calls for a more sensitive look at race and gender within the archaeological field, and offers Black Feminist Archaeology as a method by which to look at the plantation home of Andrew Jackson, the W. E. B. DuBois homesite and the Lucy Foster homestead- the first archaeological excavation of an African American home.

African Connections: Archaeological Perspectives on Africa and the Wider World by Peter Mitchell.

Peter Mitchell offers an analysis of Africa’s identity within the wider world- looking at what archaeology can illuminate about trade routes, the spread of farming systems and the experiences of the African diaspora. Though the book looks at early expansion out of Africa in the Pleistocene the story is mainly that of Africa in the Holocene, a sorely neglected subject in the field. Mitchell confronts this neglect by emphasising early on that “Africa’s inhabitants interacted with those of other landmasses, not merely as consumers or dependents, but as equal partners in exchange and active donors of goods, ideas and people.”

Documenting activism, creating change: archaeology and the legacy of #MeToo edited by Hannah Cobb and Kayt Hawkins.

Multiple authors contributed to this volume sharing their experiences as women in working in archaeology and how women within the sector navigate social media in the face of online harassment based on gender and race. Several chapters look at the state of sexism and online activist circles in specific countries. Chapter 19, “In Pursuit of Systemic Equality: The UK’s First Network For Ethnically Diverse Staff In Development-Led Archaeology” reflects on the state of diversity in archaeology in the UK, the groups, committees and alliances that work to improve it and how this aim for diversity can affect the practise of archaeology itself. This book also has a chapter on mentorship for women in archaeology and could be an enlightening resource for anyone working in the sector.

A full list of the books and a more in-depth look at some of our art collections can be seen on the art library blog.

Bodleian Library – Catherine Birch and Rebecca Cartwright

While trainees in the Old Bodleian aren’t in charge of curating our library’s displays, we thought we should let everyone know what the Bodleian has been doing to mark Black History Month.

Our physical book display in the Gladstone Link is focused on themes of activism, resistance, and liberation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, taking material from the History lending shelves. We’ve also signposted a few ebooks from our collection, looking at black identities and intersectionality in Britain. There’s a broad range of texts spanning different historical disciplines, time periods, and places, reflecting the richness of Black history in the United Kingdom. If you’re unsure where to start, try checking out these texts:

There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack by Paul Gilroy.

Originally published in 1987, this book examines racial politics and race relations in the UK and argues that the (then contemporary) sociological model of race and culture is inherently flawed. Predominantly researched and written during a period of significant racial tension in Britain, the book caused controversy after Gilroy accused left- AND right-wing intellectuals and leaders of failing to properly consider race in their politics. Almost 40 years later, it has held up as a foundational study of the relationship between race, class, and nationality. This edition also contains an edited introduction, where Gilroy reflects on the change he had seen since the book was first published.

Rhodes Must Fall: The Struggle to Decolonise the Racist Heart of Empire by the Rhodes Must Fall Movement (Oxford).

This collection of writings on the Rhodes Must Fall movement has close links to the university. It was compiled and edited by members of Rhodes Must Fall Oxford, a group founded in 2016 in solidarity with anticolonial student protests at the University of Cape Town. The Oxford chapter’s aim was to decolonise the university’s curriculum and remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oriel College. The book sets out their arguments as to why Rhodes shouldn’t be honoured, exploring the modern legacy of colonialism and the enduring impact of racism and empire on all aspects of Western life. While much has changed in the 7 years since this book was published, it reflects a pivotal moment in the university’s history, and it remains a thought-provoking read.

We Were There by Lanre Bakare.

On this “road trip around Black Britain… this time, London is in the back seat, and Bradford’s our driver. Liverpool’s choosing the music. Edinburgh’s navigating.”[1] Often, black history in Britain is confined to the urban southeast. Areas like Cardiff, Manchester, or Bradford (where Bakare was born) are a footnote, and rural black lives are overlooked entirely. This book seeks to move beyond this conception and illuminate aspects of British history we’re yet to fully explore. It’s a recent publication which looks to the future as well as the past, emphasising that blackness and black culture is not universal, modular, or static. Filled with humour and introspection, it questions what it actually means to be a Black Briton, not just a Londoner.

We’ve also picked out some books from our wellbeing display in the Old Bodleian which embody this year’s theme. When you next need a study break, take a look at these:

Celebrations: Rituals of Peace and Prayer by Maya Angelou.

Maya Angelou is widely recognised as one of the most significant poets of the twentieth century, and this anthology brings together some of her most famous works. Angelou was not just a great writer and artist – she was closely involved with the civil rights movement in the USA, and was a fierce activist throughout her life. Her life and her writings truly embody the theme of “Standing Firm in Power and Pride”, and her legacy is one felt here as well as in the United States. ‘Celebrations’ contains 12 poems about peace, love, and hope, and is a great book to dip into whenever you need some joy.

Self-Care for Black Men: 100 Ways to Heal and Liberate by Jor-El Caraballo, LMHC.

‘Self-Care for Black Men’ does what it says on the tin: the book is a guide to coping with racism, prejudice, and intergenerational trauma as a modern Black man. Carabello is writing for men who feel like they don’t have access to the support that they need, offering guidance on how to take care of yourself and your wellbeing in a constructive manner. The book is full of Black pride and empowerment, with 100 meditations on identity, respect, and personal dignity. For those feeling insecure or emotionally drained, it could be a very useful read.

If these have interested you, or you want to learn more, check out our HFL blog post for a full list of the books on display in the Upper Link. Our Wellbeing display is available year-round and is located at the top of the North Stairs in the Old Bodleian.

Signpost – Events

If you liked our displays and want to see more of what the university have to offer, come along to the Weston Library on Wednesday 29th October for a chance to see some unique items from the university’s Special Collections. There’ll be a show-and-tell of archival material focused on black lives in history, with the opportunity to learn about racial activism and black culture in Britain from the nineteenth century onwards. The event is free to attend – to learn more and register attendance, visit the Oxford SU website.

The Ashmolean has also recently unveiled a new display: ‘Shedding Light’. An evolution of the earlier installation ‘A Nice Cup of Tea?’, this room was carefully crafted to tell a story about the interconnected histories of slavery, colonialism, sugar production, and ceramics. It takes the form of a 1950s-60s Caribbean living room filled with books, records, ceramic, and life – viewers are encouraged to literally read the room. It’s an interesting lens into British Caribbean heritage and intergenerational experiences, with a particular focus on the sugar trade and how this shaped black lives and culture. It’s located in the European Ceramics Gallery on the second floor and is intended to be a permanent fixture in the museum.

2024 Trainee Showcase: Part 1

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Among the many fantastic opportunities afforded to Graduate Trainee Library Assistants based in Bodleian and Oxford College Libraries is the chance to design and undertake a project. Undoubtably one of the highlights of the year, the annual Graduate Trainee Showcase provides the opportunity for each trainee to present their project to an audience from across the Oxford libraries. The 2024 Showcase, superbly organised by Anna, Clara, and Connie, was a resounding success. The huge variety of projects presented reflected both the trainee’s diverse interests and expertise, and the varied aims and priorities of the different libraries in which they have been based.

This blog post is the first in a series dedicated to this year’s Graduate Trainee Showcase. The blog posts contain descriptions of all the different projects, each written by another trainee. We’ll be kicking off here with the morning session of presentations made by Lara (Bodleian Law Library), Elena (All Souls College Library), Nia (Old Bodleian Library), and Jess (New College Library).

 

Lara Hatwell: ‘O Stranger from England, why stand ye aghast?’: Exploring the Law Library’s Northern Ireland Collection

By Leah Brown

Taking on the task of opening this years’ Trainee Showcase, Lara couldn’t have done a better job!

Lara’s project focused on the Northern Irish collections held at the Law Library. Having observed that there’s often a sense of horror around looking at Northern Ireland’s past, Lara wanted to reframe this. This is reflected in the title of her project; ‘O stranger from England, why stand ye aghast?’ is a line from Ballad to a Traditional Refrain by the Northern Irish writer and historian, Maurice James Waldron Craig (d. 2011).

A screenshot of the beginning of a blog post, displaying the title, the first paragraph of the text, and a picture of the Northern Irish parliament buildings at Stormont.
Lara’s piece on the Law Library blog.

Lara began by working through the Bodleian Law Library LibGuide on Northern Ireland and fleshing it out as she went, including keeping it up-to-date with current political events—something quite unique to the Law Library! After immersing herself in the LibGuide and collating all of this information, which was no mean feat, Lara was also able to write a longform blogpost for the Bodleian Law Library Blog. It covers Northern Ireland’s relationship with British politics, particularly in the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the 1980s and the legalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland in 2018. Both of these laws were passed much earlier in England, Scotland, and Wales in 1967, but Northern Ireland was left out of the legislation. They were forced to bring the matter to the European Court of Human Rights and the UK Supreme Court respectively, while the UK government tried to wash its hands of the whole affair. Lara’s blog is a truly interesting read on the complicated political relationship that Northern Ireland, Europe, and Britain share, so I highly recommend you click through and take a look!

With this under her belt, Lara created promotional material for Northern Irish resources for the Thesis Fair, which then led to the opportunity to help with individual sessions on Northern Ireland with students. As a part of this, Lara created a guide on the resources held by the Bodleian, including highlighting the huge collection of papers that can’t be found anywhere else, many of which are now out of print. She was also able to shine a spotlight on the Conflict and Politics in Northern Ireland (CAIN) Archive, which she discovered was not included on Databases A-Z. It contains a huge amount of information on deaths relating to the Troubles all the way up to 2001 and is very community-focussed, which Lara mentioned is why she particularly likes it as a resource. Lara is currently working on a short bio of the site before Official Papers will make a claim for its addition to Databases A-Z, so watch this space!

So, what’s next? Well, before the traineeship is over Lara aims to write further blog posts particularly focussing on acquisitions based around Northern Ireland. She will also be writing a longform piece on Lady Justice and ‘how justice as a wider concept has been imagined’, so do keep an eye out for those over here.

 

Elena Trowsdale: The Importance of Cataloguing: A Multi-strand Exploration of Searchable Catalogues as the Backbone of Librarianship

By Nia Everitt 

Elena’s project was all about the importance of cataloguing, which many library staff (and shoppers at Argos, probably) can attest to. At All Souls College Library, where Elena is the trainee, cataloguing takes many different forms. Elena researched all of these and suggested some great improvements that could be made!

All Souls Library has got some super interesting digital projects and outreach initiatives coming up, so Elena’s project sought to promote these by taking a look at the role that cataloguing plays/will play, as well as researching historical librarianship (blowing the dust off card catalogues) and looking ahead to future cataloguing projects.

Elena got started with creating a comprehensive list of pamphlets held at All Souls in the GZ classification series, including details about shelfmark and reference information, as well as logging whether it is currently catalogued or not. In doing so, Elena laid the foundations for cataloguers to fully record and describe these items on formal databases, saving them time in the future!

Rather excitingly, All Souls is currently in the midst of re-cataloguing their archive, and so Elena also got to assist with this. Crosschecking the existing archives catalogue, she created a machine-operable spreadsheet, up to professional standards. Again, she’s reduced the timeframe quite a bit for these details to be uploaded to Expexio, the archival database platform, although doing so will still require professional input.

Then Elena conducted a survey to see what library staff actually think about cataloguing. The survey results were very interesting. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the biggest change to cataloguing that staff have noticed is a switch to online systems. Many also noted that, in the wider academic world, cataloguing is not regarded highly enough. This disregard for cataloguing is frustrating because, as staff observed, it is a job that requires a lot of skill. One colleague remarked that ‘having worked for 39 years in Oxford University libraries, I fear I am still an inadequate cataloguer’. Survey respondents also highlighted the political aspect of cataloguing, noting that some subject headings seem inadequate in a rapidly developing society, and that accessibility is becoming more and more prevalent.

Six AI generated images depicting a cat reading a book, ants climbing a bookshelf, a cartoon octopus, a cat, a cuckoo clock, and a landscape.
Images generated by AI in response to prompts about online and paper catalogues.

Elena also incorporated AI into her survey! Images generated when online catalogues, like SOLO, were mentioned, included a happy cat holding a book, ants climbing a bookshelf, and a rather severe looking octopus. Images generated when paper catalogues were mentioned were a grumpy cat with no book, a rather old clock, and a very idyllic, mountainous landscape. Make of that what you will!

The final aspect of Elena’s cataloguing project was an exhibition about legacy catalogues, investigating past librarianship methods. The All Souls Library catalogues dating to c. 1635–c. 1756 had a very basic style, and seemed optimised for use at the time as they were arranged by the authors’ last names. Elena also charted the cataloguing methods for one item, ‘A Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft’. Her findings were that paper catalogues needed to be physically handled for information, whereas on SOLO, everyone has access to the same information, improving accessibility. The number of catalogue records and amount of information for this one item also suggested scope for interoperability, such as linking between current catalogues, transcriptions, and more!

Elena’s hopes for the future of cataloguing include: more training for all library positions, increased funding, opportunities for technical experimentation, investment in learning, and well-supported digital tools. With advocates like Elena, the future of library cataloguing certainly seems exciting.

 

Nia Everitt: A Wellbeing Collection for The Bodleian Old Library and Radcliffe Camera

By Fran Allen

Choose Your Own Adventure: Graduate Trainee Library Assistant Project.

You are Nia, a Graduate Trainee Library Assistant at the Bodleian Libraries who is completing a project as part of their trainee year.

To choose the Wellbeing Collection project, turn to section 7. To choose Alien Communication, turn to section 51.

Section 7. Inspired by your own time at university during the Covid-19 pandemic, you choose to create a wellbeing collection for the Old Bodleian. Wellbeing collections and spaces are becoming more common in libraries due to both an increase in the number of students reporting negative mental health experiences, and a recognition of the role academic libraries play in supporting a student’s mental health whilst at university. There are already a number of wellbeing initiatives within the Bodleian Libraries and you have visited nearly all of them for inspiration.

To start with a local needs assessment, turn to section 39. To search the internet for pictures of cats, turn to section 84.

Section 39. You start the process with a local needs assessment to see what services are already provided, and which aren’t appropriate (e.g., medical advice). Through this process you identify two areas of focus for the collection.

To choose wellbeing resources and reading for pleasure, turn to section 19. To choose fashion advice and scone recipes, turn to section 32.

Section 19. The initial stages of the project have successfully identified two main areas for the collection to focus on—wellbeing resources and reading for pleasure. Unfortunately, there is no budget for this pilot project so you will have to be resourceful when sourcing books.

To make all the books yourself in your breaktimes, turn to section 11. To access the enormous resources of the CSF, turn to section 2.

Section 2. Due to the Bodleian Library’s standing as a legal deposit library there is a wealth of non-academic texts available to any Bodleian reader via the CSF. These items are, however, predominantly Library Use Only so can’t be taken out of the library on loan. You choose a selection of shorter texts that can be read quickly or flicked through in order to make the collection more engaging and accessible.

How do you choose to record this information?

To create a series of tables, turn to section 44. To whisper them into a colleague’s ear, turn to section 63.

Section 44. You create a series of tables that contain all the relevant information for the chosen titles. In order to ensure the collection can be easily maintained by colleagues after you have finished your traineeship, you include all the information required to request them from the CSF as well as costs so that if funds are available in the future they can be purchased. You are almost ready to assemble your collection and locate a small bookcase from the Duke Humphrey’s library for the display.

Image of shelves containing wellbeing and light-reading books.
The Old Bodleian wellbeing collection.

Where are you going to place the bookshelf?

To tuck the bookshelf under the arm of Bodley’s statue in the quad, turn to section 43. To place the bookshelf on a bright and accessible stairwell, turn to section 74.

Section 74. You choose a bright and accessible staircase for the physical location for the collection. It is outside of the reading room environment but still within the library.

How will you advertise the collection?

To create a series of bright posters and bookmarks, turn to section 29. To take out small weekly adverts in Oxford Mail, turn to section 9.

Section 29. Using Canva you create a series of colourful, eye-catching posters and bookmarks which introduce the new collection to library users. You also signpost other available support such as the Counselling Service.

Congratulations! Your Wellbeing Collection is in place and is available for all Old Bodleian Library readers to access.

 

Jessica Hodgkinson: Mythical and Monstrous: Promoting Special Collections at New College Library

By Connie Hubbard

New College Library is home to a large collection of beautiful manuscripts and rare printed books which Jess made it her mission to further promote. She wanted to help provide access to special collections items and encourage people to engage with them, hoping to advance our knowledge about these books and manuscripts along the way.

Jess decided to focus in the main on curating an exhibition. She thought of a very cool theme for this—monsters and mythical creatures. Jess explained that she wanted to pick a topic which lots of people would be interested in.

An image of a smiling woman in a pink dress stood next to a large poster decorated with fantastical creatures.
Jess at the Mythical and Monstrous exhibition.

To find items to include in her exhibition, and to research their origins and significance, Jess scoured SOLO and the shelves, compiling an extensive list of fantastic, and fantastical, books to display. These included, for example, a sixteenth-century atlas illustrated throughout with mythical creatures, such as mermaids with buttocks (!), a fourteenth-century copy of the Book of Revelation full of monstrous miniatures like the horse-locusts of the apocalypse, and a thirteenth-century copy of Homer’s Illiad which has a drawing of the chimera added in the margins.

Of course, an exhibition would not be an exhibition without a few goodies to go with it. Jess designed postcards and bookmarks using images of the most remarkable illustrations, featuring dragons, a blemmy (a humanoid creature with its face in its torso), and other fantastical beings. To advertise her exhibition, Jess designed a poster which other trainees very kindly displayed in their libraries, sent out emails, and posted on social media.

Jess’ exhibition, entitled Mythical and Monstrous: Fantastical Creatures at New College Library, was a huge success. It ran on two separate occasions and welcomed over 200 visitors.

In addition to the exhibition, Jess also wrote a piece for New College Notes, the scholarly e-journal of New College, Oxford. The article is about New College, MS 287 which was written for King Henry VIII and presented to him as a gift on New Year’s Day 1515. Jess included this manuscript in her Mythical and Monstrous exhibition because it contains a doodle of Pegasus, the winged horse-god of Greek myth, on the first page. Studying the book closely, Jess also discovered something scratched into the margins of another page which had never been noticed before. John Barrett, technical lead of the Bodleian Libraries’ ARCHiOx (Analysing and Recording Cultural Heritage in Oxford) project, was able to make a recording of the addition, revealing it in even greater detail. Jess and her colleagues now believe that the addition could contain the Henry VIII’s name! If you’d like to read more about this exciting discovery, check out Jess’ piece for New College Notes, which is freely available online to everyone.

Keep an eye out for the final output of Jess’ project, a video about New College, MS 255 for the library’s Curator’s Choice series, in the coming weeks! Jess will be continuing her work with special collections at New College Library as she transitions in to her new role as the Special Collections Curatorial Assistant in September.

A Day in the Life of an Old Library Trainee

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7:45: I hop on the bus to town, and get some reading in on my way. I am currently reading Femina by Janina Ramirez, after hearing her interesting insights on the women who embroidered the Bayeux Tapestry, on the history podcast ‘You’re Dead to Me’ with Greg Jenner. I’m really enjoying it and finding it very accessible, as someone who has never really been drawn to that period of history (cue the scandalised gasps from Oxford medievalists).

8:15: With an uncharacteristic lack of traffic on the way to work, I arrive in town in time to head to Black Sheep and get myself a coffee. I like Black Sheep because the coffee is STRONG.

8:42: I arrive at work. This week I have been rota’ed to open up the Duke Humfrey’s Library, which is always a nice space to begin my day in. I am greeted by the grotesques that decorate the walls, including these cheeky chaps, who are displaying two different degrees of excitement that it’s Friday:

TGIF!

This guy has seen some things…

Opening up this reading room includes reshelving, turning on the lights, and opening the blinds.

8:55: With the Duke Humfrey’s Library ready for readers, I head downstairs to the Main Enquiry Desk where I will be spending the morning answering enquiries.

This morning, I am expecting the arrival of some books from the Just William series, for an advance order request for someone who does not yet have their reader card. Because these are early editions, I want to check their condition to confirm that they can be read in the Old Library and don’t need to be flagged up with my colleagues in Rare Books.

The books arrive, and they’re in fine condition, so I give the self-collect slips a temporary ID, change their due date, and notify the reader that they are ready to be viewed.

12:00: Lunchtime. I wolf down a very basic sandwich I cobbled together whilst half asleep this morning, wondering what my housemate, who works in Christ Church library and who is provided an amazing dinner by the college, is probably enjoying at that very same time…

13:00: After lunch I’m stationed at the circulation desk in the Radcliffe Camera for an hour. Working on this desk means I issue books, collect returns, help people connect to Wi-Fi or to locate a book. There’s always loads of people to help here so I really enjoy it!

14:00: I head back over to the Old Bod to get some work done for my trainee project. I’m finding books from offsite storage and assessing whether they’d be suitable for a temporary wellbeing collection in the Bodleian. Today I am looking at some Choose Your Own Adventure books. One is outstandingly and straightforwardly titled You Are a Shark . I’m sure this is what Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote that “brevity is the soul of wit”.

15:30: After my afternoon break, I’m sat on the Proscholium (entrance to the Old Library) where I am writing this blog post whilst keeping one beady eye out for readers entering the library. It can get cold in this part of the building, but I have a small and handy heater that is at the very least keeping my knees adequately warm.

17:00: My workday is done, so I say hello and goodbye to the evening staff member who is taking over for me on the Proscholium. This evening, I am heading to the cinema with my housemates. One fantastic thing about Oxford is the number of cinemas there are with various showings, if only to aid me in updating my Letterboxd account.

“Cyclone” Nicholson: defying tradition at the Bodleian

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Have you ever found yourself trapped between shelves in the Lower Gladstone Link, scouring shelf marks, shaking your fists and cursing the name Nicholson? You wouldn’t be the first, and you won’t be the last.

Graduate Trainee Yells at Books

Okay, maybe I’m being dramatic, but it’s true that whenever a reader asks me to help them locate something in the library, a lot of the time, they’re looking for a Nicholson book. Found in the Lower Gladstone Link stacks, the Nicholson system contains high usage material. The classification number at the beginning of the shelfmark eg. ‘1234 e.1017’ has an imaginary decimal point, which means that ‘12345’ would be found between ‘1234’ and ‘1235’, not after them.

In the spirit of goodwill and charity post-Christmas, however, it seems a shame that this is the most widely known legacy of Nicholson, for the average Bodleian reader. This blog post will explore the real Nicholson: the Bodley’s Librarian beyond the tricky-to-understand classifications, and what we as trainees can learn from him.

Edward Williams Byron Nicholson (b. 1849, d.1912), before he became Bodley’s Librarian, studied Classics at Trinity College, Oxford, and worked as a librarian at other libraries including those at the Oxford Union and the now obsolete London Institution. Nicholson blazed into his posts with a mind to reform their services “without much regard for his famous predecessors.”

Edward Williams Byron Nicholson, by an unknown engraver

It was shocking when Nicholson was appointed Bodley’s Librarian, because studying Classics at Oxford was, at the time, not considered an academic enough background. With suspicion aroused against him because of his lack of education in palaeography, linguistics, and bibliography; a headstrong personality defined by “force and originality”; and a fierce devotion to the Bodleian, Nicholson began his 30-year long tenure as Bodley’s Librarian, from 1882 until his death in 1912.  As Nicholson’s friend Henry Tedder describes, “perhaps a cyclone was wanted to bring freshness into the air of Bodley, but probably no one looked forward to a cyclone which lasted thirty years.”

To paint a picture of the cyclone-like behaviour of Nicholson, I’ll include a story told by the man himself, about when University officials attempted to turn the Proscholium (Entrance to the Old Library) into a bike shed. Even bikes weren’t exempt from cyclone Nicholson!

“The Curators of the Chest tried to use the Proscholium – Bodley’s ‘vaulted walke’, the lower story of his ‘Bibliotheca’ – as a bicycle-shed. They opened hostilities in 1902, when I was still imperfectly convalescing from a great heart-breakdown, … the then Vice-Chancellor refused to allow them either to order the removal of the [bike] stands or to move the Council. Luckily I had my own rights, and had been no party to that resolution. On the evening after the Vice-Chancellor went out of office, I cleared the bicycle-stands away. The new Vice-Chancellor had them put back again. I cleared them away again. At last, in November 1905, the Chest went to Convocation for leave to use the Proscholium as a bicycle-stable, and Convocation gave them the coup de grâce: but fancy such an attempt being possible!”

Now, I am in no way promoting Nicholson’s actions, but it is admittedly pretty funny to picture him calculating his movements immediately after the Vice-Chancellor left, in an obstinate back and forth regarding bicycles, of all matters. Nicholson may not have been popular, but the man got things done.

Indeed, his notable achievements as Bodley’s Librarian include:

“an increase in staff, the introduction of boy-labour, a new code of cataloguing rules, the development of the subject-catalogue, as well as the shelf classification of printed books, MSS., and music, the incorporation of minor collections…”

The mention of “boy-labour” is interesting, because as it has been suggested previously, this could be thought of as a very early form of a library traineeship at the Bodleian, like we are undertaking this year! [1] The scheme was set up by Nicholson to employ young boys to do everyday tasks around the library, with an incentive to then be able to attain a degree from Oxford. After a few decades, women were added to the scheme, with the groups being known as Bodley’s Boys, or Bodley’s Girls. 

Frances Underhill

One of the final clashes that Nicholson faced with other library officials was his appointment of a woman to a permanent position within the library. This woman was Frances Underhill, who definitely deserves her own blog post. In her letter of acceptance, Underhill gave thanks to Nicholson because appointing her was “a progressive step in the recognition of women’s work”. Nicholson’s sub-librarians, however, found it “objectionable”, because of ridiculous reasons such as an inability to climb ladders. Nicholson’s response was that “any woman worth her salt… would gaily ascend on a ladder to any Bodleian ceiling”. [2]

A special Veganuary mention must go to Nicholson’s love of animals. His 1879 text ‘The Rights of Animals’ argues in favour of a largely plant-based diet, “for there can be no question that vegetable food alone will keep a man in the best health and strength.” He argues that animals have reason, feelings, and a soul, and should be awarded the same level of respect as humans. [3] I wonder whether Nicholson would have preferred oat or almond milk in his tea?

It could be considered pretty ironic that we maintain Nicholson’s classification scheme, even though the man himself was dedicated to upheaving tradition. Yet, what makes the Bodleian such a fulfilling place to work is that there is such a respect for history here, as well as a commitment to making necessary and positive change, and adapting to the times. What we as trainees in Oxford libraries can learn from Nicholson is that being a champion of the Bodleian, or indeed of any library we may work in, doesn’t mean that we should never break the mould. There is room for us to celebrate diversity, and try new things, without completely ignoring our history. See, for example, the We Are Our History project, which is doing important work to re-engage with our collections, through the lens of race and the legacies of the British Empire. [4] We can look forward to being innovators of change within libraries – change that even Nicholson could not have foreseen!

 

N.b: The majority of the quotes have come from Henry Tedder’s E.W.B. Nicholson (Bodley’s librarian, 1882-1912): in memoriam (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1914) https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/ogbd98/alma990161434930107026

Further reading

[1] Trainee project showcase – The Oxford Traineeship: Past, Present and Future | Oxford Libraries Graduate Trainees

[2] Women of the Bodleian: personal stories behind progressive steps | University of Oxford Podcasts

[3] #10 – The rights of an animal: a new essay in ethics. By Edward Byron … – Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library

[4] We Are Our History | Bodleian Libraries (ox.ac.uk)

Happy Christmas from the Oxford Library Trainees!

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Well! It’s the last day before Christmas closure at the Bodleian Library, and as I am writing this, I imagine that some of the trainees in other libraries are making their way back to family and friends for Christmas. It’s been magical to see how Oxford libraries transform at Christmas time. There have been carols in the Divinity School sung by Bodleian staff, busts decorated with Santa hats, and Christmas trees springing up all over our different sites.  

Like the trainees last year, this year we decided to explore our libraries in the festive season through the medium of our very own 12 Days of Christmas- or should I say, Libmas! Originally posted over on our X (Twitter) X/Twitter account below is a list of all the presents that our libraries have ‘sent’ to us, and now to you!  (Singing along is optional.) 

On the First Day of Libmas, my library sent to me- 

A bust of Chichele! 

Henry Chichele was the founder of All Souls College and also Archbishop of Canterbury from 1414-43. One of our trainees has the privilege of working in the library there! 

 

On the Second Day of Libmas my library sent to me-  

Two book displays 

Part of the trainee role is getting to be creative with book displays. Pictured below are some Christmas book sculptures from the Social Science Library. How cute! 

 

On the Third day of Libmas my library sent to me-  

Three window frogs! 

According to cataloguer Peter Spokes, much of the painted glass in the Old Bodleian Upper Reading Room is of 17th century Flemish origin! 

Top right frog has definitely had too much Christmas pudding. 

 

On the Fourth day of Libmas my library sent to me- 

Four festive busts! 

Pictured below are busts of Professor Hermann Georg Fiedler, Prince Edward and Voltaire. 

  

 

On the Fifth Day of Libmas my library sent to me- 

Five old things! 

1)A papyrus dating from 3 AD from St John’s College, in which the recipient is asked why they didn’t attend the sender’s son’s birthday party ! 

 

 

 

2) MS 61 – a rather lovely 13th century bestiary made in York! 

3) A copy of the 27 Sermons preached by Hugh Latimer and held at the English Faculty Library! This edition was printed in 1562 by John Day, seven years after Latimer was burnt at the stake for heresy on Broad Street near Balliol college in Oxford. 

4) One of a series of letters written by Jane Austen to her niece Anna in 1814. St John’s College also owns a 1797 letter from Austen’s father, George, to a publishing house, offering them his daughter’s novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’ – they said no! 

5) Last but certainly not least in our list of old things, a book on Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules! Although still used in some select libraries, AACR and AACR2 were a cataloguing standard that have largely been superseded by machine-readable cataloguing, known as MARC 

 

On the Sixth Day of Libmas my library sent to me-  

Six Christmas data charts!  

With roast spuds as the top dish, average Christmas budget, most desired gifts, total UK Xmas spending, average Christmas dinner cost, and toys as largest gift spend! Sprouts beat mince pies…hmm? 

 

On the Seventh Day of Libmas my library sent to me- 

Seven damaged books! 

It’s inevitable that some of the Bodleian’s collections will become a little careworn, however, it’s important that they are able to keep circulating. This is when the lovely Bodleian conservation team step in! 

 

On the Eighth day of Libmas my library sent to me-  

Eight totes for packing!  

Artfully (?) arranged by a trainee into a very vague christmas tree shape, these totes contain books to be refiled in our Collections Storage Facility. 

 

On the Ninth day of Libmas my library sent to me- 9 ladies’ dancing (manuals)  

Exhibited in Blackwell Hall, Weston Library, ‘The Dancing Master’ was a widely popular manual of country dances, first published in 1651. 

The Weston Library is holding a Dancing Master’s Ball in January- join the waiting list here: The Dancing Master’s Ball | Visit the Bodleian Libraries (ox.ac.uk)  

Or learn more about the display: The Dancing Master | Visit the Bodleian Libraries (ox.ac.uk) 

 

On the Tenth day of Libmas my library sent to me-  

10 pre-Raphaelite murals! 

In 1857, 8 artists including Rossetti, Morris and Burne-Jones, painted the #OxfordUnion’s Old Library (then Debate Chamber). Their inexperience meant the art faded and some said it should be covered. 

Read more about the murals and the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in Oxford here: OXFORD AND THE PRE-RAPHAELITES | Ashmolean Museum 

On the Eleventh Day of Libmas my library sent to me- 

Eleven (House of) Lords (Hansard parliamentary sittings reports) a-leaping (on to their trolley)! Did you know the Bodleian Law Library also houses the Official Papers collection? 

On the Twelth day of Libmas my library sent to me- 

Twelve libraries with trainees wish you a very merry Christmas!

Thank you all for reading our blog and engaging with our X posts over Michaelmas term. There is lots more to come in 2024, so watch this space!  

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from us! 

Michaelmas term round-up

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As the libraries empty out over the Christmas vacation, the trainees reflect on their first term.

 

A display including fact sheets and images of suggested titles such as Ableism in Academia and The Oxford Handbook of Disability History
The Disability History Month Display in the Old Bod Lower Reading Room

Christmas at the Old Bod has arrived, and although in the last week there have been fewer visitors, the reading rooms are still peopled with studious readers. I’ve put up some fabulous Christmas decorations (circa 1970), and the tree in the quad has drawn even more tourists in.

The past few months working at the Bodleian have been a lot of fun. One of my favourite activities has been making displays and advertising resources that the Bodleian has to offer, like my recent book display for UK Disability History Month . It means I get to interact with a wider variety of books from our vast collection. What it has fundamentally shown me is that my favourite part of working in a library is the opportunities you are given every day to help people!

Nia Everitt, Bodleian Old Library 

 

 

 

My first term at the Sainsbury Library has been busy with tasks varying from processing new books, weeding old journals, and creating and updating signs for the library (which sometimes involves warming up the laminator!). I have three main highlights so far:

  1. Creating a ‘How to Guide’ for readers with Sainsbury’s Circulation and Customer Services Librarian. The guide covers topics like setting up the university VPN, how to use PCAS services, and how to search, find, borrow and request books in our library. It is over 60 pages long and counting…
  2. Creating an AI book display which then led to creating an AI window display at the library entrance and now updating our Business of AI LibGuide to include books from the display and A visitor even came in asking about the display because they saw the post I wrote on our Sainsbury Library News blog.

Both projects have helped me to learn about the variety of support and services that the Bodleian provides. I have explored business databases, SOLO, ORLO, and other University of Oxford resources doing these two projects. I have realised that readers at Oxford have access to a wealth of resources but, through working on the enquiry desk, you come to realise how many readers do not know about it! So, the final highlight is:

  1. Helping a reader discover something they didn’t know before and helping them with problems they have accessing services.

The reader’s gratefulness after helping or even just visiting the library is like extra icing on a cake. The gratefulness is a reminder that helping someone in a way that, as staff we may feel is small or routine, such as scanning a chapter, telling someone about a useful LibGuide or just showing them where the printers are, can be quite significant for our readers.

Anna Roberts, Sainsbury Library

 

What a learning experience a term can be. ALMA, ORLO lists, law reports, legal databases, citation styles, serials processing, loose leaf binders: they were all quite new to me. Happily, thanks to the great training and brilliant support from library colleagues, they aren’t anymore. But never fear: the readers and the library keep coming up with new and intriguing conundrums (missing books, obscure queries, rare Bodcard colours…). I’ve loved assisting the students, faculty and visitors (there was one reader who was so enthusiastic when I showed them our bookable study spaces that I got the firmest handshake I have ever experienced!), but equally have come to really appreciate the mindful calm that can come from a book moving or filing spell (when not interrupted by an urgent scan request for use in court, or a group of new readers to guide round, or a puzzling mountain of books left somewhere seemingly at random – there’s always something going on!). And of course, our visits to the CSF, conservation studio and special collections were a real highlight. The term has certainly confirmed that I’d love a career in libraries, and I’m looking forward to the next term, when there will be a recurring display to organise, some more to learn about cataloguing, and a Libguide to write! Keeping busy…

Wanne Mendonck, Bodleian Law Library

 

A Christmas tree stands on a marble table in the Union Society Old Library. There are bookcases and decorative walls visible in the background.
Christmas tree standing on the mysteriously chimneyless fireplace in the Union Society Old Library.

Working for the Oxford Union Society Library is amazing! This term the Union was visited by Sir Roger Penrose, Nazanin Zaghari Radcliffe, Tom Hanks, etc and I have tried things I have never attempted before, such as creating displays – possibly my favourite task as I get to research everything from Victorian ichthyology to recreational drugs, Oxfordshire geology to gothic poetry, and medieval table manners to historical transgender figures. I had never used Twitter, never posted on Facebook, and had never run a professional Instagram account and this term I began running the Library’s (Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook). Training can be pretty interesting too; so far my favourite day has been the conservation day at the Weston Library where we learnt how books are fixed, what pests to look out for (we were handed round laminated insects e.g. silverfish), and about active and inactive moulds.

Connie Hubbard, Oxford Union Society Library

 

This term has been a wild ride. Alongside learning an incredible amount from my training process at All Souls, there have been some amazing events in the library such as a play, a visit from a youth orchestra and a formal dinner. We had over 700 new reader applications, over 1000 visitors to our open day and over 200 book requests. All in all, these first few months of my traineeship have been immensely positive. The day to day work has often been chaotic, but this meant I was rarely bored and always learning. I am very excited for the challenges Hilary term may bring, and feel ready to face them.

Elena Trowsdale, All Souls College Library

 

It’s hard to believe that it’s been three and a half months since my first day at the Rad Cam – the time has flown by! But when I stop and reflect, a lot has happened over this period, and I have learned a lot.

Besides some of the big stand-out moments from the training sessions, such as the tour of the CSF or our afternoon with Special Collections, I think the main highlights for me have been the pleasure of helping out readers and the variety of the work; my days regularly involve fielding enquiries at the circulation desk or reception, fetching and scanning books for Scan and Deliver, donning glamorous high vis and directing delivery vans through the quad, creating blog or social media content, processing new books, and more. I enjoyed getting to take on the responsibility recently of sorting out the HFL books for rebinding, and I’m really looking forward to getting started with my project next term.

Xanthe Malcolm, History Faculty Library

 

It’s safe to say that as my first full term as a trainee draws to a close, the experience has been jam-packed! From the day-to-day running of the EFL, to our weekly training sessions (not to mention the cheeky post-training pub trips) there’s always something going on, and always something new to learn. Looking back at my introduction post, I can easily say that I’ve enjoyed everything even more than I thought I would. Highlights being (of course) the tour of conservation studios; the opportunity to see incredible literary figures such as Philip Pullman; and learning more about the EFL’s collections through my project! Being a part of the traineeship has really cemented that I want to continue working in libraries and, having seen next terms’ training schedule, I’m even more excited for the new year.

Leah Brown, English Faculty Library

Astronomy at the Old Bodleian: The 1769 Transit of Venus

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When you’re working at the Radcliffe Camera and the Bodleian Old Library, you sometimes end up fielding questions about the history of these establishments from curious readers, and so a colleague advised me early on to do a little bit of reading on the subject. We even keep a helpful printout of the Wikipedia page for the Bodleian Library at the Proscholium (the main entrance), and as I was looking through this a sentence caught my attention:

“The astronomer Thomas Hornsby observed the transit of Venus from the Tower of the Five Orders in 1769”. [1]

Interesting, I thought – having studied astrophysics at university, I’m a little bit of a space nerd. So, I started diving deeper into the topic.

What is the transit of Venus, and why was it important to observe?

Venus appears as a small black dot visible against the Sun, which appears large and orange.
The transit of Venus as photographed in 2004.

The transit of Venus simply refers to Venus crossing directly between the Earth and the Sun, like the moon does during a lunar eclipse. Since Venus is significantly further away from us than the moon, it appears much smaller, and so during its transit we would see a small black dot moving across the face of the Sun. The last two transits of Venus occurred in 2012 and 2004, and the next one won’t be until 2117. [2] Nowadays, an event like the transit of Venus is interesting to watch, and is a good way to get people interested in astronomy, but back in the 18th century, it was also of real scientific significance.

Edmond Halley (1656-1742), of Halley’s Comet fame, was the one to suggest that the 1761 and 1769 transits of Venus would be the perfect opportunities to take some measurements which could be used to calculate the distance of the Earth from the Sun, a question that became known as “the most noble problem in Nature”. [3]

But how would this be done? The answer lies in a phenomenon called parallax. [2] The simplest demonstration of parallax is to hold a finger a little distance in front of your nose, and close one eye, then the other. You should notice that your finger seems to move, because you’re now looking at it from a different angle. If you experiment with holding your finger at different distances from your face, the size of this effect will change. Similarly, if you watch the transit of Venus from multiple places on Earth, it will cross the edge of the Sun at very slightly different times, and if these times are measured accurately enough, you can work out the distances involved.

The 1769 transit

To get the best results, observations need to be made as far apart as possible. James Cook and his crew were to journey to Tahiti to observe the phenomenon there [4], and many scientists and keen amateurs planned to make their own observations all around the world [3]. As Bridgerton fans may recall, even King George III observed the transit.

The phenomenon really captured the public imagination. Lectures were held in the lead up to the event, and a wide range of prints and instruments were sold [3].

Observations in Oxford

Thomas Hornsby, the Savilian Professor of Astronomy at the time, chose to make

The Tower of the Five Orders. It is built of pale stone and is ornamental pilllars and statues decorating it..
The Tower of the Five Orders today.

his observations from the top of the Tower of the Five Orders at the Bodleian Library [5]. He described his reasoning as follows, in an article published by the Royal Society:

“I proposed to observe the transit of Venus and the Sun’s eclipse in the upper room of the tower of the Schools, which, though the floor of it be very unsteady, yet from its elevated situation afforded me the clearest view of the north-west part of the horizon, and is indeed the best place for making occasional observations in different parts of the heavens, and at different altitude, which this place at present affords.” [5]

Others made their own observations in locations including New College Tower and “an unfurnished room of the Hospital”. [5]

Hornsby described that although initially “the wind sometimes blew so hard as to incommode the observer”, the weather conditions soon became favourable to observe the transit. [5] However, he encountered the same problem as all the other observers: a phenomenon known at the time as the black drop effect, whereby Venus appears to stretch out and become pear-shaped as it meets the edge of the Sun’s disk. This, combined with the fact that the edge of the Sun’s disk appears darker than the centre, makes it very difficult to accurately judge the time at which Venus crosses the edge of the Sun. [2]

The results

Thomas Hornsby was one of several scientists who combined some of the data from different locations to attempt to calculate the distance from the Earth to the Sun. I found it fascinating that in his paper he does discuss ideas about errors and accuracy, albeit not in the quantitative way that a modern scientist would:

A series of drawings entitled "Appearances of Venus by Capt. Cook" showing Venus as a black circle with a grey halo around it , with the lower edge of the planet seeming to spread out as it crosses the edge of the Sun's disk.
Cook’s drawings of the black drop effect. [4]
“From the near agreement of the several results before found… and affected only by the necessary error in observing, the accuracy of the observation… is abundantly confirmed”. [6]

I also enjoyed the following sentence, which I can’t imagine ever seeing in a modern scientific paper, in which he explains an alteration he has made to the data gathered by the French astronomer Pingré:

“And Mr. Pingré… will probably be of the opinion, that an error of one minute was committed in writing down the time of his observation, as was conjectured by many persons, as well as myself; a mistake to which the most experienced observer is sometimes liable”. [6]

By the end of his calculations, Hornsby arrived at a figure of 93 726 900 miles [6] as the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Remarkably, there is only a 0.8% error in this compared to the modern value of 92 955 800 miles. [2]

However, different astronomers produced a wide range of different values [7], meaning that unfortunately, what we now know was a highly accurate result for Hornsby was a lucky fluke. Astronomers realised there were large errors in their data: instead of timings being precise to within a second, as they had hoped, there were uncertainties of about a minute, due to the black drop effect and the dark appearance of the edge of the Sun’s disk. [2] The final verdict was that the problem remained disappointingly unsolved. [7]

Final remarks

Despite the lack of a conclusive answer, I think this remains a fascinating part of the history of astronomy. The worldwide nature of the observations to my mind echoes modern enterprises such as the Event Horizon Experiment, which combines radio telescopes all around the world into effectively one huge telescope and so was able to take the first photo of a black hole in 2019. [8] Furthermore, the story of transit observations continues today as a key way in which astronomers are able to discover planets orbiting stars outside of our Solar System. [2] And all of this, to me, makes the connection to our own Bodleian Library site all the more exciting.

References

[1] Bodleian Library – Wikipedia Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

[2] Transits of Venus | The Royal Astronomical Society (ras.ac.uk) Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

[3] “The Most Noble Problem in Nature” (ox.ac.uk) Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

[4] Cook, James, and Charles Green. “Observations Made, by Appointment of the Royal Society, at King George’s Island in the South Sea; By Mr. Charles Green, Formerly Assistant at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, and Lieut. James Cook, of His Majesty’s Ship the Endeavour.” Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), vol. 61, 1771, pp. 397–421. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/106113 Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.  https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/ao2p7t/cdi_jstor_primary_106113

[5] Hornsby, Thomas. “An Account of the Observations of the Transit of Venus and of the Eclipse of the Sun, Made at Shirburn Castle and at Oxford. By the Reverend Thomas Hornsby, M. A. F. R. S. and Savilian Professor of Astronomy in the University of Oxford.” Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), vol. 59, 1769, pp. 172–82. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/105821 Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.  https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/ao2p7t/cdi_jstor_primary_105821

[6] Hornsby, Thomas. “The Quantity of the Sun’s Parallax, as Deduced from the Observations of the Transit of Venus, on June 3, 1769: By Thomas Hornsby, M. A. Savilian Professor of Astronomy in the University of Oxford, and F. R. S.” Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), vol. 61, 1771, pp. 574–79. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/106123  Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.  https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/44OXF_INST/ao2p7t/cdi_jstor_primary_106123

[7] “The Most Noble Problem in Nature” (ox.ac.uk) Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

[8] Press Release (April 10, 2019): Astronomers Capture First Image of a Black Hole | Event Horizon Telescope Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.