Bodleian Library

Bodleian Library
Doors to the Bodleian's main entrance, with the coats of arms of several Oxford colleges
51°45′14″N 1°15′16″W / 51.75389°N 1.25444°W / 51.75389; -1.25444
Location	Broad Street, Oxford, United Kingdom
Type	Academic library
Established	1602; 422 years ago (1602)
Collection
Items collected	Books, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, maps, prints, drawings and manuscripts
Size	13M+[1]
Legal deposit	Included in the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003
Access and use
Access requirements	Old Schools Quadrangle, Divinity School, Exhibition Room and Bodleian Library Gift Shop open to the public
Members	Students and fellows of University of Oxford
Other information
Director	Richard Ovenden
Website	bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley

The Bodleian Library (/ˈbɒdliən, bɒdˈliːən/) is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items,^[1] it is the second-largest library in Britain after the British Library.^[2] Under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, it is one of six legal deposit libraries for works published in the United Kingdom,^[3][4] and under Irish law it is entitled to request a copy of each book published in the Republic of Ireland.^[5] Known to Oxford scholars as "Bodley" or "the Bod", it operates principally as a reference library and, in general, documents may not be removed from the reading rooms.

In 2000, a number of libraries within the University of Oxford were brought together for administrative purposes under the aegis of what was initially known as Oxford University Library Services (OULS), and since 2010 as the Bodleian Libraries, of which the Bodleian Library is the largest component.

All colleges of the University of Oxford have their own libraries, which in a number of cases were established well before the foundation of the Bodleian, and all of which remain entirely independent of the Bodleian. They do, however, participate in SOLO (Search Oxford Libraries Online), the Bodleian Libraries' online union catalogue, except for University College, which has an independent catalogue. Much of the library's archives were digitized and put online for public access in 2015.^[6]