Using the Humanities Library

 
Hello, and welcome to this introduction to the Humanities Library, one of the Bodleian Libraries.

You can find the Bodleian Humanities Library in the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities. This building is located in Oxford’s Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, between the Woodstock Road and Walton Street. You can enter the building via the North or South Entrances.

There are two entrances to the library. One is on the ground floor, near the north entrance to the building. The other is on the first floor, by the central staircase. At both entrances, you enter through an initial set of double doors. On the ground floor, the doors are opened with a button. On the first floor, these are opened by holding your bod card to the reader. In both entrances, you’ll then need to approach the speed gates, and tap your card on the card reader to your right. There may be a short delay while your card is recognised.

Staff are onsite in the Humanities Library, ready to help. During opening hours, you can always find someone to approach with a question at our Help Desk! However, if you have a subject-specific query, you may want to approach your subject librarian. Some of the subject librarians for the Humanities Library are shown here on the screen. While we are currently recruiting a new Music Librarian, all questions regarding music can be directed to the Deputy Music Librarian, Tom Halvarsson.

The ground floor of the library can be seen as a map here. It includes formal study spaces, informal study spaces, reader PCs, a Print, Copy and Scan Machine, and a bookable group study room. This space is available to 24/7 for students whose faculties are housed in the building, and who apply for out-of-hours access.
Here is a sneak peek of the library, panning from left to right from the ground floor entrance.

The first floor of the library can be seen as a map here. It includes formal study spaces, informal study spaces, and Print, Copy and Scan Machine, a water fountain, an accessibility hub, quick search machines, a self-issue machine, the help desk, the piano, graduate-only spaces, a bookable group study room, and bookable audio-visual rooms.
Here is a sneak peek of the library, spanning from left to right from the first floor entrance.

The second floor of the library can be seen here as a map. It includes formal study spaces, reader PCs, quick search machines, graduate-only spaces, an accessible toilet, and bookable group study rooms.
Here is a sneak peek of the library, spanning from left to right from the top of the stairs.

The library holds a lot of books and periodicals relating to many different areas of study, such as English, Film Studies, History of Medicine, Internet Studies, Music, Philosophy, and Theology.
In addition to usual books, we also hold a dedicated Old Norse/Icelandic collection, and special collections items for the study of English (including17th to 19th century books). We also hold a collection of DVDs to support film studies, and scores and CDs to support the study of music.

On the first floor, you can find: 18th Century Periodicals, the Old Norse/Iceland Collection, Music Scores, Large and Extra Large items, Dictionaries, the Self-Collect area, the New Books Display, most of our books on Philosophy and Theology, the Film Periodicals, the New Periodicals Display, and the DVD and CD Collections.

On the second floor you can find some more of our books on Theology, our dictionaries in English, and our books on music, English language and literature including film theory, History of Medicine, and Internet Studies.

The library is well-equipped for accessibility, with step-free access, hearing loops, and more. A wide variety of accessibility equipment, including ergonomic furniture, is available for use throughout the library. If you have any further questions about accessibility, feel free to speak to our disability contact, Jo English.

If you want to get in contact with us or you need any help, there are lots of ways to reach out to us. Information is available on our website. You can email or call us any time during opening hours. We frequently post updates and the latest news to our bluesky account and, of course, the library is open 9am to 9pm seven days a week, where you can speak to a member of staff in person.

Thanks for watching – we look forward to seeing you in the Humanities Library soon!