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.

To tie in with the Weston Library exhibition titled Pets & their People (running until 27th September 2026), we have created a pop-up book display located in the Social Science Library (SSL).

The exhibition in the Weston Library explores how the relationship between humans and their pets has evolved over 10,000 years of domestication. It asks: how has the special bond between owners and pets changed, and what does this reveal about who we are?

People & their Pets invites you to explore depictions of pets and human/animal companionship in stories, imagery, and poetry in the Bodleian’s collections. From the letters that inspired The Wind in the Willows and a rare first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, to one of the earliest recorded depictions of an assistance dog for the blind, the Bodleian is filled with animal treasures. The book display in the SSL highlights the wide array of animal literature and non-fiction books in the Bodleian’s collections, from Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot to Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk.

The book display contains books from the Collections Storage Facility (CSF). The items from the CSF 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.