Collections management

Collections Management has over 110 staff based in Oxford and Swindon.  The department includes:

  • Open Access Collections
  • Collections and Resource Description (C&RD)

Collections Management generally is responsible for collection policy and management, licensing, and negotiation/contact with suppliers and for the management, monitoring and reporting of the Library Materials budget.

The Book Storage Facility (BSF) in Swindon, which is a specialised warehouse that stores lower-usage items from the Libraries’ collections and provides access to them by delivering items to the Libraries. These collections include books, maps, manuscripts, microfilms, periodicals and newspapers primarily from the 18th century onwards and currently number over 10 million items.  

The Packaging and Display Section (PADS) is a comprehensive packaging service, principally serving the Bodleian Libraries but also making its services available to the UK library, archive, and museum community as well as private individuals.  

The Book Moves team co-ordinates all book moving activities ranging from small transfers to the Book Storage Facility in Swindon to large-scale projects.

Open Access Collections

Open Access Collections support and manage the following services:

  • ORA (Oxford University Research Archive)
  • ORA-Data
  • Open Access publication payments (APCs – Article Processing Charges).  

The team facilitate access to content produced by researchers at the University (such as journal articles, conference papers, data), by making files available open access in the repository, ORA and by administering the payment of open access publication charges. The team also play a leading role in the negotiations for journal licensing agreements, in particular Read and Publish deals. These services are central to University compliance in line with government and funder policy, such as the Research Excellence Framework (REF), UKRI (UK Research and Innovation), and Wellcome Trust / Plan-S frameworks.

Open Access Collections works closely with colleagues in C&RD, as well as Bodleian Digital Library Systems and Services (BDLSS) and the Open Scholarship Support team within the Bodleian. All three departments—Collections Management, BDLSS and Open Scholarship Support—together form the Scholarly Resources Department.

For more information on open access, visit the Open Access at Oxford website.

Collections and Resource Description (C&RD)

C&RD comprises:

  • Acquisitions and Content Procurement (including: Legal Deposit, Acquisitions and Electronic Resources; Asian and Middle Eastern Technical Services; and Inter-Library Loan/Scan & Deliver)
  • Resource Description.

As part of the larger Collections Management department, the C&RD team is responsible for the acquisition of materials (including legal deposit and inter-library loan, and covering print, serials, and electronic resources), cataloguing (including training and support services), and collection policy, licensing and management (including supplier negotiations and budgetary monitoring). C&RD liaises with the subject consultants responsible for the selection of library materials.

On a national (and international) level, C&RD staff are involved in discussions relating to legal deposit and cataloguing policy.

Storage and Logistics

The Storage and Logistics section covers two major areas of activity in the Bodleian Libraries:

The BSF is a specialised warehouse that stores lower-usage items from the libraries' collections and provides access to them by delivering items to the libraries. These collections include books, maps, manuscripts, microfilms, periodicals and newspapers primarily from the 18th century onwards.

The Packaging and Display Section (PADS) is a comprehensive packaging service, principally serving the Bodleian Libraries but also making its services available to the UK library, archive, and museum community as well as private individuals.

The large and disparate nature of the libraries' estate demand regular moves of collections between sites. PADS co-ordinates all book moving activities ranging from small transfers to the Book Storage Facility and between sites in Oxford to large-scale book move projects. PADS can also be used to transfer furniture between sites in Oxford.

 

Related links