If you are planning on booking and using the VHL study spaces, read this blogpost for further information, and advice on how to plan for your visit.
Booking a slot
In line with wider Bodleian policy, readers are required to use a booking system to book spaces at the VHL. Pre-booking is mandatory and walk-in requests for study spaces will be politely rejected by library staff.
A screenshot of the Bodleian Library Space Finder webpage. Note that this example includes our new Browse & Borrow service options – please ensure you select the right option for your visit.
Use this link to book your space at the VHL.
For more information about the wider Bodleian reading room policies, and for further information on the booking service, visit the Bodleian Libraries website on using library reading rooms.
The booking slots for the VHL are:
Weekdays: 9:30 – 13:00; 13:30-17:00; 17:30-21:00
Saturday: 10:00- 12:30: 13:00 – 16:00
Sunday: 11:00 – 13:30: 14:00 – 17:00
You may book for more than one slot across the day if you wish.
Spaces will be available one week in advance of the advertised dates.
You can choose to book a Desk space or a Reader PC space. You cannot book two spaces at the same time, and move between the PC/Desk.
You may use the notes field if you wish to provide further information to the librarians before your slot, such as if you wish to use a microfilm reader.
Please note that study spaces at the VHL, and across the Bodleian Libraries are very heavily booked up, and we are trying to make as many spaces available as safely possible. Do not make a study space booking if you are not intending on using it. Please be considerate of your fellow readers.
Arriving at the VHL for your study slot
You may arrive at any time during your allocated study slot. Please follow all social distancing guidance and signage when entering the building. If there is a queue, may be required to wait in the foyer, or outside the building.
Upon arrival outside the building, please follow the below steps:
- Enter the Rothermere American Institute foyer, via the door marked Entrance (on your right as you approach the building – see image below).
The library is through the glass doors door, on the left side of the foyer (see below). Keep to the right hand side as you enter through the doors.
2. Tap your Bodleian card against the card reader on your immediate right, to activate the access gates (see below).
3. Please enter the library one person at a time. If library staff are busy with an enquiry at the library desk, you may be asked to wait before the access gates, or in the RAI foyer.
4. Once the library staff member at the desk confirms that they are available to deal with your enquiry, please confirm that you are here for a study space booking.
5. You will be asked to show your Bodleian card, so that the staff member can confirm your place on the Reading Room register. Display your card either through the Perspex screen, or by placing your card on the desk, and then stepping away from the desk area and stand behind the line marked on the floor.
6. The library staff member will confirm your study slot booking, and the times of your registered study slot. They will also inform you of the main guidelines you need to follow whilst using the library. If you are studying for more than one slot, you will then be given a red library ticket (see below for further information on library tickets).
7. If you have a stack request, or Click & Collect material which you need to collect, inform the library staff member, so that they can provide you with your items. If there is a long queue of readers wishing to enter the library for reading room spaces, you may be asked to come back later to collect your material, when the enquiry desk is quieter.
Upon entering the library, you will need to register with library staff at the enquiry desk (pictured above). Please stand behind the line on the floor, when speaking with staff.
Selecting a Desk or PC Study Space
Available spaces within the VHL have been marked out by library staff in advance. Available spaces are socially distanced from other readers, and located to ensure the least amount of contact between readers.
Available spaces are marked with a green tick sign, which reads “You may sit here”. Unavailable seats are marked with a red “Do not sit here” sign.
You may use any available desk or PC Reader space in the VHL, so long as the seat is marked with the green tick sign and there is not a red Library ticket left on the desk.
PC study spaces are available on the Ground Floor only. Desk spaces are available on all floors of the library.
The Reader PCs are located on the Ground Floor. You can sit at any of the PCs with a green tick sign.
Once you have selected your desired space, please use the nearby cleaning materials to wipe down your desk area or reading room equipment before using the space for your studies.
If you are having problems with your chosen study space (such as your PC/electronic plugs are not working), inform the library staff as soon as possible for their assistance. If your study space is found to be unusable, staff may move you to another free space, but we do ask for you to wipe down your previous study space before moving.
Displaying your library ticket
If you are going to be studying at the VHL for more than one time slot (so for example, a morning & afternoon slot), you will be given a red ticket by a member of staff on your arrival. The ticket is to ensure that other library staff do not incorrectly ask you to leave before your booked slot times have ended, and to avoid them disturbing you when asking other readers to leave. Please keep your red ticket clearly visible on your desk, with the side with text facing upwards.
Staying for more than one time slot? Make sure to keep your red ticket displayed!
You do not need to leave the library in between any of your booked slots, but you may leave the library at any point for meals or other reasons. If you are planning on leaving the library and returning, please leave your red ticket on your desk, to make sure other readers do not use your space in your absence.
When you have finished studying for the day, please return your ticket to the enquiry point when you leave. Do not take your ticket home with you.
Using the reading room during your slot
Social distancing guidelines and cleaning material
Any reader using the library study spaces will need to follow the guidelines set out by the VHL. These are created in consultation with the Rothermere American Institute and the wider Bodleian libraries policy.
Readers will be required to wear a mask at all times whilst in the library, and wider RAI building. Readers must also maintain a 2 meter social distance between themselves and others using the building. There is a limit of one person down each library shelving bay.
If you require help from a library staff member, consider using Library Chat or email, instead of speaking 1-1 with a member of staff, to reduce unrequired contact.
There are cleaning materials located around the library on each floor, to allow readers to clean their study spaces and any reading room equipment they use whilst at the VHL. There are also hand sanitisers located near reading room equipment, and in wall dispensers around the building.
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Cleaning materials are located around the library (left), alongside hand sanitisers in bottles and wall dispensers (right).
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If you have any feedback on the social distancing/one way system, or feel that more cleaning material should be made available, please inform library staff by email. We are more than happy to consider your feedback, and reflect on what we can do better.
Moving around the library
A one-way system is in place around the building to encourage social distancing and to avoid unwarranted contact between people using the building.
Upon entering and exiting the RAI foyer, use the separate Entrance and Exit doors. Please keep to your right as you enter or exit the VHL via the glass doors and library access gates.
There is only one staircase which connects the Ground Floor to the Mezzanine level, from which you can access the other floors. Please be aware of other readers using the stairs and give way at the signposted points (pictured below).
If you need to continue to the floors higher than the Mezzanine level, use the stairs immediately on your right (see above image). You should only use these stairs to go up.
To travel to lower floors from the First/Second Floor towards the Mezzanine, please use the stairs located closest to car park, and RAI foyer. These stairs are opposite the stairs you used to enter the building. You should only use these stairs to go down (see below).
On the First and Second Floor, a one way system is in place around the library shelves. To travel towards the area of the building closest to the cark park and where the stairs for travelling downstairs are located, please walk on the side of the floor closest to the Mezzanine and the large glass windows looking onto the garden.
To travel towards the area of the building furthest from the car park and where the stairs for travelling upstairs, please walk on the side of the floor furthest from the Mezzanine, next to the windows facing South Parks Road.
Please limit the number of people down each library shelving bay to one.
In order to exit the building, you will need to go downstairs (using the stairs located closest to the carpark and RAI foyer), and then walk parallel to the Mezzanine study spaces and large glass windows looking onto the garden. Remember that you may need to give way to others before using the staircase which connects the Mezzanine to the Ground Floor.
There is signage clearly displayed around the library, to show readers the correct routes using the one way system, and clarifying where to give way to others.
Please be aware of others as you travel around the building. You may need to stand to the side, or leave a library shelving bay, in order for others to use the building in the safest way possible.
If you have any feedback on the one way system, or feel that more signage should be displayed, please inform library staff by email. We are more than happy to consider your feedback, and reflect on what we can do better.
Bathrooms and breaks
Bathrooms are located on the First Floor of the library, on the side closest to the car park.
The bathrooms include two unisex toilet cubicles (with individual sinks and hand drying facilities) and one disabled bathroom. Please be aware that others may be using the bathrooms, and give way to readers leaving the bathrooms as a priority. Hand sanitiser is available in a wall dispenser next to the toilet entrances.
Readers may leave the library at any point, including for meals. If you are going for a long period of time, you should take your personal belongings with you. If you have been given a red library ticket to show you have more than one study booking, leave the ticket on the desk.
If you are planning on re-entering the library, please inform the library staff as you leave. You will be asked to show your card when you re-enter the library so staff can confirm your slot.
Browsing
Any reader with a booked reading room slot may browse the open shelves for VHL and RSL material. Please follow the wider social distancing guidelines and visible signage when travelling around the reading room. There is a limit of one person down each library shelving bay.
PCAS machines and other reading room equipment
Any reader with a booked slot may use the PCAS machines for scanning, copying and printing. The two PCAS machines for the VHL readers are located on the Ground Floor, on the side opposite the enquiry desk. Please use the available cleaning material to wipe down the machines before and after you use them.
If you wish to use the microfilm reader, please make a note of this on your booking. The library staff will make sure that the reader is available for you to use. Please use the available cleaning material to wipe down the reader before and after you use it.
The VHL also has accessibility equipment available for readers to use. Please ask at the enquiry desk if you would like to use any of the equipment, and the library staff will sign them out to you. Please use the available cleaning material to wipe down the equipment before and after you use them.
Leaving the VHL at the end of your study slot
You may leave the VHL at any point before the end of your study slot. Library staff will alert relevant readers in the library 15 minutes before the end of each of the allocated time slots. (So for example, staff will warn readers at 12:45 if their booking will end at 13:00). This is to give readers enough time to collect their belongings and clean their study spaces/reading room equipment before leaving.
If you have booked for more than one time slot across the same day, please keep your red ticket clearly visible on your desk, with the side with text facing upwards. Library staff will be checking tickets as they alert readers, and will not disturb you.
When you have finished your reading room slot, or have received a 15 minute warning from library staff, please complete the following steps.
- Pack up your belongings.
- Use the nearby cleaning materials to wipe down your desk, PC or any other reading room equipment that you have used.
- Leave any library materials that you will not be borrowing on your desk, or nearby library trollies.
- Bring your red library tickets downstairs with you and leave them on the Enquiry Desk. Please do not take the red tickets with you.
- Leave aside some time if you need to return stack requests or check out books from the enquiry desk.
- Leave the library one at a time, keeping to your right, as you go through the security sensors.
- Use the card reader on the wall directly in front of you (on your immediate right as you turn to face the library doors) to activate the security gates and exit the library through the library doors.
- Exit the RAI foyer via the exit immediately on your right.
When exiting the library, please be aware of your fellow readers and others in the building, and follow social distancing signage and guidance at all times. You may need to wait for others to finish using cleaning material before you can use it. There may be a rush of readers exiting the library, and you may be asked to queue as you leave. If you need to return a stack request or check out books at the enquiry desk, you may be asked to wait until a queue of readers have left, before staff can assist you.
We hope you have a productive and positive experience at our library. If you have any questions or feedback about using the VHL reading room, please contact us at: vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
