The library space will be closed to readers from Thursday 6 August – Sunday 11 October (inclusive) whilst our entrance area is refurbished but we will continue to offer key services:
A request and fetch service for SSL loanable books
A request service for SSL Library Use Only material to the Law Library
Book returns for Social Science Library and Bodleian Offsite Storage (Loanable) items
The Scan and Deliver service will remain available
Further information on how to place requests and return items can be found here.
The fetching and enquiry service will be available from the office near the main Manor Road Building Reception desk at the following times (except for 29-31 August when the service will be closed for the Bank Holiday weekend):
9am-5pm Monday-Friday
10am-4pm on Saturday
If you have any questions or concerns, do speak to a member of library staff or contact us via email.
Our library entrance area refurbishment will include:
The library space in the SSL will be closed for refurbishment from Thursday 6 August – Sunday 11 October (inclusive) and during this time we will offer:
A request and fetch service for SSL loanable books
A request service for SSL Library Use Only material to the Law Library
The usual Scan & Deliver service
Book returns for Social Science Library and Bodleian Offsite Storage (Loanable) items
How to request a book to borrow
If you are eligible to borrow from the Social Science Library follow these steps:
Click on Social Science Library in the list of Libraries.
SOLO will show that the location of the book is not accessible.
Click on Request Options.
If the Request Options button does not appear, contact the library at ssl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk for help.
If the only item available to request is a loanable item from the Social Science Library, the Delivery/Pickup Location will default to Social Science Library.
If there are multiple items available to request, including at least one loanable item from the Social Science Library, select Borrow From:Social Science Library from the drop-down list.
Click SEND REQUEST
You will receive an email when the item is ready to collect from the library office near Manor Road Building reception. Signage in the Manor Road Building foyer will direct you to this service point.
Requests submitted by 12 noon should be ready for collection by 9am the next working day.
Books may be collected during service hours:
Monday – Friday: 9am – 5pm
Saturday: 10am – 4pm
How to transfer a book to the Bodleian Law Library for Library Use Only
To request a book transfer to the Bodleian Law Library for Library Use Only:
Click on Social Science Library in the list of Libraries.
SOLO will show that the location of the book is not accessible.
Click on Request Options.
If the Request Options button does not appear, contact the library at ssl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk for help.
If the only item available to request is a Library Use Only item from the Social Science Library, the Delivery/Pickup Location will default to LawLibrary Self-Collect. What is “Self-Collect”?
If there are multiple items available to request, including at least one Library Use Only item from the Social Science Library, select Read At:Law Library Self-Collect from the drop-down list.
Click SEND REQUEST
You will receive an email when the item is ready to collect from Law Library Self-Collect reserve.
Requests submitted by 12 noon should be ready for collection at the Law Library Self-Collect point by 12 noon the next working day.
Items from the SSL will contain orange slips showing the Self-Collect ID of the requester.
Leave items you have finished with in the designated area, or hand them in at the staffed desk.
How to place a Scan & Deliver Request
To request a digitised chapter from a book in the Social Science Library:
To return a Social Science Library book or loanable book from Bodleian Offsite Storage:
Either
Return the item to the Service Point at the library office near Manor Road Building reception. Signage in the Manor Road Building foyer will direct you to the collection point. Service hours:
Monday – Friday: 9am – 5pm
Saturday: 10am – 4pm
Or
Place the item in the Book Returns Box located in the Manor Road Building foyer
Each month, one of our Subject Librarians chooses an electronic resource which they feel will be of interest to you.
August’s Resource of the Month has been selected by John Southall, Bodleian Data Librarian and Subject Consultant for Economics and Sociology.
John’s choice, the International Newsstream Collection from ProQuest is a powerful database providing access to thousands of news sources from around the world.
Overview
The International Newsstream Collection brings together news content from across Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand (North America is not included). The collection includes more than 1,700 print, digital, and broadcast news sources, with archives stretching back to the 1980s, making it an invaluable resource for both current affairs and historical research.
The collection offers access to:
Authoritative, full-text journalism from trusted publishers
Global perspectives on the same event, helping compare how issues are framed in different countries
Historical coverage, showing how stories and debates have evolved over time
Advanced search tools, including searching by publication, country, date, subject, or keyword
Integrated citation and export features, making it easy to save articles and reference them in your work
International Newsstream provides full-text access to major international newspapers and news providers, including; The Guardian, The Times, Le Monde, China Daily, The Australian, Straits Times, Times of India and Al-Ahram.
Text Mining Capability
A particular strength is its integration with ProQuest TDM Studio which supports text and data mining (TDM), allowing researchers to undertake systematic downloading of large news corpora and application of computational techniques such as sentiment analysis, topic modelling, and other forms of large-scale textual analysis.
A Subject & Research Guide has been published to support this and other resources, as well as outline the principles of Text and Data Mining.
The SSL ‘Book of the Month’ feature highlights a book in our collection that has been chosen by one of our Subject Consultants. This may be a recent addition to our stock or an existing item that we would like to share with you.
August’s Book of the Month was selected by John Southall, Bodleian Data Librarian and Subject Consultant for Economics and Sociology.
The sociology of emotions: feminist, cultural and sociological perspectives
It was chosen because it offers a comprehensive overview of the field of the Sociology of Emotions, incorporating sociological, feminist and cultural perspectives. It will be useful reading for researchers and students seeking a current and interdisciplinary resource covering a wide range of international material.
Book Overview
Structured around three dimensions – conceptualisation, theory and analysis of emotions – Brooks provides new insights into the field, with a particular focus on contemporary social issues such as loneliness, depression, confidence, consumption, class, intimacy and sexuality.
The book examines the language of emotions, looking at macro and micro framing of emotions in modernity, emotional labour, public emotions, passionate emotions, melancholic emotions, masculinity and emotions, love, intimacy and emotions. It delves into both positive and negative emotions such as happiness, anger, fear and sadness and considers both classical and contemporary social theories in this area.
Reviews
“This prolific author’s magisterial breadth of knowledge produces an overview of sociology of emotions at once extensive and concise. An up-to-date, indispensable resource for students and researchers.”
Catherine M. Roach, University of Alabama
How can I access it?
We have one lending copy of this book, its shelfmark is HM1033.BRO 2024. We also have an eBook of the title available via SOLO. The eBook can be accessed from a Bodleian Library computer or can be used remotely, by logging on to SOLO with your SSO.
What would your SSL Book of the Month be? Do you have a favourite book in our collection? If so, we would love to know what it is. Add a comment below or email us.
We are pleased to announce that access to EThOS (E-Theses Online Service), an open access discovery platform for UK doctoral theses, managed by the British Library, has now been restored.
EThOS was badly damaged by a cyber-attack on the British Library in 2023 and has been unavailable since. The metadata records of over 650,000 theses from UK universities have been loaded onto the new platform. This includes around 14,000 additional theses that have been added to the service since the cyber-attack.
The British Library reported that later in 2026, they will begin the next phase of work to assess how the restored version of EThOS is being received by their users. They will be consulting with participating universities and EThOS users to ensure that they are meeting the community’s needs.
You can read more about the updated EThOS service and find answers to frequently asked questions on the British Library Website.
Each month, one of our Subject Librarians chooses an electronic resource which they feel will be of interest to you.
July’s Resource of the Month has been selected by Sarah Rhodes, Subject Consultant for International Development, Forced Migration and African and Commonwealth Studies.
It was chosen as a comprehensive source of grey literature that brings together in one site access to over 40 million reports from almost 50,000 different sources including Global Think Tanks and World Governments.
Where can you access the resource
This resource is available to access via SOLO. On searching for Policy Commons via SOLO you will see the links to the different modules available. Select the one of your choice and link through to the database:
Alternatively, click on any of the links and go through to the database homepage and then select ‘Modules’ from the top menu under the search bar:
A list of different modules will then display and you can select the one of your choice:
A Single-Sign-On (SSO) is required to access this database remotely, as it is restricted to Oxford University students and staff members.
The SSL ‘Book of the Month’ feature highlights a book in our collection that has been chosen by one of our Subject Consultants. This may be a recent addition to our stock or an existing item that we would like to share with you.
July’s Book of the Month has been selected by Sarah Rhodes, Subject Consultant for International Development and Forced Migration.
This Handbook provides a clear overview of the impacts of and responses to humanitarian crises. It explores their many causes, including political instability, natural disasters, and economic inequality, while highlighting the significant difficulties faced by humanitarian workers.
Reviews
‘[The Handbook] is one of those rare compilations possessing the imaginative power and practical insight needed to help recreate an entire field of thought and practice. The essays collected here take a refreshingly critical look at the conceptual foundations, current operations, and future prospects of the field of humanitarian intervention’.
Professor Richard E. Rubenstein, George Mason University, USA
How can I access it?
We have one lending copy of this book, which is located on our New Books Display Area (around the corner from our Issue Desk), its shelfmark is BJ1475.3.HAN 2025. We also have an eBook of the title available via SOLO. The eBook can be accessed from a Bodleian Library computer or can be used remotely, by logging on to SOLO with your SSO.
What would your SSL Book of the Month be? Do you have a favourite book in our collection? If so, we would love to know what it is. Add a comment below or email us.
To tie in with the Weston Library exhibition, Wonder of Birds (running until 3rd January 2027), we have created a pop-up book display located in the Social Science Library (SSL).
Inspired by The Book of Birds by Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane, Wonder of Birds celebrates the splendour of the birds around us at the same time as recognising the steep decline in bird populations across our skies in recent decades.
Following the ‘Seven Wonders’ of birds – nest, egg, beak, song, feather, flight, migration – the exhibition pairs the words and art from The Book of Birds with Oxford ornithological research and Bodleian collections to explore the beauty and mystery of these extraordinary creatures.
Exhibition highlights include John Gould’s Birds of Great Britain and John James Audubon’s Birds of America.
The book display in the SSL covers birdwatching, bird identification, nests, eggs, song and migration. You will find beautiful illustrations in many of the books.
The books are from the Bodleian Libraries’ Offsite Storage. They are for use in the library only and cannot be borrowed. You are welcome to remove books from the display to look at in the library and return them there afterwards.
You can find out more about this and upcoming exhibitions in the Weston Library on the Visit Bodleian website.
Please note that the Social Science Library entrance area will be fully refurbished over the Summer Vacation. The library will be closed to readers during August and September 2026, but we will offer book fetching, Scan & Deliver and other key services. See our previous blog post for more information.
Take a look at our new Summer Book Display for inspiration on making the most of the great outdoors this summer. Boost your wellbeing by spending time in nature and exploring new places. Topics covered include walking, travel, camping, wild swimming, summer crafts and seasonal vegetarian and vegan cooking. Here is a small sample of the titles available:
The books featured in the display are on loan to us from the Collections Storage Facility (CSF). They are for use in the library only and cannot be borrowed. Do feel free to remove them from the display to look at in the library and then return them there afterwards. The book display can be found around the corner from the Issue Desk in the Social Science Library.
If you are an Oxford University student or staff member and need to access library resources while you are away from Oxford, follow our tips below:
Remote access via SOLO
Access e-books, e-journals and databases remotely by logging in to SOLO with your Single Sign On (SSO) Take a look at the Bodleian Libraries SOLO Guide for further information.
Live Chat
For help with finding and using items on SOLO, you can also get immediate assistance via SOLO Live Chat during working hours.
Look for the chat box to the right of the SOLO webpage.
Most postgraduate reading lists are available on Oxford Reading Lists Online ORLO and scans, online articles and e-books can be accessed there. Take a look at the ORLO reading lists webpage for further information.
Scan & Deliver
Scan & Deliver is a free electronic document delivery service which enables you to obtain scans of book chapters or journal articles via email from the Bodleian Libraries’ print collections.
Online Subject Guides
Browse our online Subject Guides to find subject librarians’ specialist support and resources for your research and studies.
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