craven.fr (.ox.ac.uk)

One of the things I missed most when I left university was not having access to a good university research library. At McGill I could spend an afternoon lost in the stacks and find facsimiles of mediæval Latin translations of Averroes, or some intriguing nineteenth century British volumes whose pages were filled with nothing but cuneiform. Then I could wander to another floor and read the debates in the House of Lords over granting Canada self-governance, and read microfiche copies of Pravda from the height of Stalin's power in the 1930s Soviet Union. To some extent the internet has helped feed my hunger for knowledge, but in academic subjects even it was quite poor five years ago. Today things are much better online, as more and more facsimiles and scans of books become available, but it falls far short of having access to a good library.

And now, I'm afraid that Oxford is going to spoil me for life.

The options in Oxford for library lovers are overwhelming. College libraries, private libraries, departmental libraries... and then there's the Bodleian. The most famous university library in the world, the Bodleian boasts a copy of every book published in Britain. Dating back to the Middle Ages, scholars originally wore fur coats because the library was kept unheated (for fear of fire), and the books were chained in place to prevent theft, as books were extremely valuable at that time. To this day, one must swear an oath in Latin in order to be granted access to the library (although people who don't have the patience for eccentric Oxford traditions just sign a form covering it):

Do fidem me nullum librum vel instrumentum aliamve quam rem ad bibliothecam pertinentem, vel ibi custodiæ causâ depositam, aut e bibliothecâ sublaturum esse, aut fœdaturum deformaturum aliove quo modo læsurum; item neque ignem nec flammam in bibliothecam inlaturum vel in eâ accensurum, neque fumo nicotiano aliove quovis ibi usurum; item promitto me omnes leges ad bibliothecam Bodleianam attinentes semper observaturum esse.

Among the Bodleian Library's treasures are Shakespeare's First Folio, one of 42 remaining complete Guttenberg Bibles, and four copies of the original Magna Carta. It is a very cool place, its entrance dominated by the impressive Tower of the Five Orders, and the massive Radcliffe Camera and breathtaking Duke Humfrey's Library are two of the most special places in the world to read, for any bibliophile.

As amazing as those treasures of the Bodleian and its other 11 million volumes are, as a student at Oxford, it is just one of the libraries whose resources we draw on. Why, one might wonder, would we need more? For one thing, the Bodleian is not a lending library—it does not let you check any books out. For this reason, and for convenience, most colleges provide impressive libraries themselves, which members can check books out from, and are often open 24 hours a day. (Unlike the Bodleian, which can be a real annoyance!) Given the great intensity of study at Oxford, with its short term periods, this can be a lifesaver. I'm proud to say that my own college, Oriel, has one of the best libraries: it has over 100,000 books, and being itself descended from a mediæval chained library has many rare and important historical manuscripts as well, and a gorgeous Senior Reading Room, which we can study in during the day. (In fact, Oriel's library itself had a copy of Shakespeare's first folio, but we sold it in 2003, for £3.5 million.) Other colleges have great libraries, too, one of the most beautiful being The Queen's College, but these college libraries are only open to members of that college. (If another college's library has a book you need that you can't get elsewhere, then you can be admitted to consult it, but I cannot conceive of this happening very often considering how many other options there are.)

Students whose college libraries are not so impressive need not despair, however, if they are members of the Oxford Union, the famous debating society which has hosted famous speakers from Albert Einstein to Michael Jackson, and from Richard Nixon to Malcom X. The Union has its own lending library, which is itself a pretty magnificent space, the walls and ceilings being graced by murals painted by important members of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. They will purchase any volume they do not have upon request, so it gives a fine opportunity for students whose college libraries are less extensive—or who just are looking for something entertaining to read outside of their studies.

Besides the Oxford Union there are other private libraries, such as the Tractarian library at Pusey House, that often contain world-class or historically important collections in a specific area of interest, as well as a good public library.

Graduate students like myself, however, will spend most of our time in yet a fourth category of library. (Indeed, for an MBA student, the first three types of library are primarily of interest as places to study when we need a change of atmosphere—the equivalent of the world's most opulent Starbucks, I'm ashamed to say!) This is the departmental library, the library maintained by each graduate department and specialised in its field. For business school students, this means our main haunt is the Sainsbury library, a beautiful and modern change of pace from its centuries-old cousins down the street. It is a nearly entirely electronic library, contained on two floors in the same building as the business school, and is entirely conceived and built for the needs of MBA students. Because of its location, adaptability to group work, and ease of integration with laptops and wi-fi, besides its airy atmosphere and great views, I would be surprised if many MBA students did not spend most of their "Oxford library time" in here. Other departments have similar libraries specifically conceived for their field of study, and some of these, such as the Sackler Library for classics and the Radcliffe Science Library, themselves contain rare treasures of great importance for the intellectual heritage of mankind.

All in all the library landscape at Oxford is impressive, immersive, and does an incredible job of being both adapted and accessible to students and the needs of their degrees (through specialised libraries for graduates and the easily accessible lending libraries in the colleges primarily for undergraduates), while also having the tremendous depth and breadth of the Bodleian system to ensure that no matter how deep one's research goes, one will be able to find the necessary materials.

For a book lover, Oxford just might be heaven.