Upper Reading Room
The Upper Reading Room is the principal research reading room for access to printed books and periodicals published after 1640 in the subject fields of Medieval and Modern History, English Language and Literature, and Linguistics.
The decor of the Reading Room features one of the Bodleian Library's most celebrated glories – the painted frieze.
Location
Upper Reading Room
Old Bodleian Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG
We are situated on the second floor of the Old Library.
Enquiries and contact information
Supervisor: Jacqueline Dean
tel: 01865 (2)77144
email: reader.services@bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Please ask staff if you have any enquiries about open shelf material, the book service, or photocopying.
Please note that the full range of services is only offered from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, and that after 5pm on weekdays and on Saturdays staff may refer particular enquiries to the Main Enquiry Desk, or to daytime staff.
The Library’s Main Enquiry Desk in the Lower Reading Room of the Old Library is staffed throughout opening hours, and staff there are happy to help with any queries, direct you to the most appropriate reading room for your studies, and assist with the use of the online catalogue SOLO and electronic resources available via OxLIP+. A range of guides on library services and facilities is also available from the Desk. To contact the Main Enquiry Desk or to ask a question, please use the Ask an Oxford Librarian page.
Subjects
English Language and Literature
The open-shelf English Literature collections (shelfmarks beginning A) consist largely of standard editions of the works of the principal prose, poetry, and drama writers from the Anglo-Saxon period onwards, as well as major bibliographical and reference works, and periodicals relating to Literature in English (from the British Isles and elsewhere). A guide to the main sequences is given below.
Selected recent acquisitions of graduate and research materials relating to History and to English, from both the legal deposit intake (British and Irish materials) and from a wide range of foreign accessions, are displayed in a freestanding shelf in the photocopying area with shelfmarks beginning A.Tray.
Racks containing the current issues of journals, most of which are journals whose main runs are kept in the bookstack, can be found on windowsills in the southeastern corner of the room.
For more information, please see the English subject page.
A.1 General Literature; folklore; anthologies.
A.2 Language, literature and critical theory periodicals.
A.3 General English Literature; criticism, bibliographies; guides to dissertations and theses; dictionaries of quotations; other reference works; book production; history of language and grammar; place names, personal names.
A.4 English Literature to 1500.
A.5 English Literature, 1500 to 1700.
A.6 English and American Literature, 1701 to 1950 (and beyond).
A.7 Literature periodicals; bibliography periodicals.
A.8 English dictionaries, including The Oxford English Dictionary and the Middle English Dictionary, and thesauri; foreign etymological dictionaries.
A.9 Outsize books and periodicals, including The Times Literary Supplement, the London Review of Books, and The New York Review of Books.
History
The open-shelf History collections (shelfmarks beginning K) consist largely of source materials, major bibliographical and reference works, and periodicals relating to the History of the British Isles and Europe, from the fall of the Roman Empire to 1945 and beyond, with some coverage of other geographical areas. A guide to the main sequences is given below.
Selected recent acquisitions of graduate and research materials relating to History and to English, from both the legal deposit intake (British and Irish materials) and from a wide range of foreign accessions, are displayed on freestanding shelves in the photocopying area with the shelfmark K.Tray.
Racks containing the current issues of journals are located on windowsills in the northern wing of the room. Current issues of a number of journals whose main runs are kept in the bookstack are also displayed on this rack.
For more information, please see the History subject page.
K.1 Chronology; guides to dissertations and theses.
K.3 and K.4 General History periodicals; periodicals on particular regions or particular periods.
K.5 Calendars of State Papers; atlases; outsize materials.
K.6 Society publications periodicals; medieval studies periodicals; Ecclesiastical History periodicals; canon law periodicals.
K.7 Bibliographies; national histories.
K.8 Collections of Belgian and French documents.
K.9 Collections of German, Austrian, Italian, Dutch, and Spanish documents; The Dictionary of National Biography; computing and humanities.
K.10 Foreign-language to English dictionaries.
Linguistics
The open shelf Linguistics collection (shelfmarks beginning L) includes journals, reference works, and a comprehensive undergraduate English linguistics collection. Racks containing the current issues of journals, most of which are journals whose main runs are kept in the bookstack, can be found on windowsills in the southeastern corner of the room.
For more information, please see the Linguistics subject page.
Using the collections
All printed materials held in the Upper Reading Room are listed on SOLO, Oxford University's library catalogue. On the catalogue, books and journals available on the open shelves will have the location Upper Reading Room Open Shelves, followed by a shelfmark such as A.6.68 (English Literature), K.7.1240 (History), or L.1.22 (Linguistics). A yellow slip must be filled out and put in the place of any material removed from the shelves.
An Upper Reading Room Suggestions Book for additions to the open shelves in this room is held at the staff desk for readers' use.
Mobile steps, kicksteps, and other items of height access equipment are available to help readers retrieve open shelf books from the higher shelves of bookcases. Before using equipment of this type, please make a visual check that it is not damaged or faulty. Please take care when using the equipment, and if it is unstable, let staff know straightaway, and then find another set of steps. When using sets of steps with hooved or cup feet, please take particular care not to knock the feet against bookcases or skirting boards, as this can distort them and make the steps unstable.
Book replacing
Book replacing is undertaken every weekday evening from 7.30pm in term, and from 5.30pm in vacation, continuing every weekday morning until approximately 9.15am. Book replacing is undertaken throughout the day on Saturdays.
Stack request
To order books to the Upper Reading Room using SOLO, sign in to identify yourself to the system, choose the "hold" option and select Upper Reading Room from the list offered. A maximum of ten orders to the Upper Reading Room should be made at any one time. Pre-1701, very large or heavy material, and certain types of special collections material (including all manuscripts and Oxford theses) may not be ordered to this room.
Facilities
Computer and laptop facilities
Computers are available in the Upper Reading Room for readers to consult SOLO, OxLIP+ databases, and internet resources of academic interest. Reader seats are equipped with power sockets. Connection to the internet is available throught the Wireless network, though Ethernet points, are available. Please see the using a laptop page for more information.
Printing and photocopying
Printing, scanning and photocpying is available in the Upper Reading Room. Payment is made using a PCAS account, which readers must set up to take advantage of these services. The account can be credited using credit/debit cards online, or using the cash-loader in the Lower Reading Room of the Old Library.
Please present any items from which you wish to make photocopies to staff. Information on the PCAS system, full details of what can be copied and information about other copying services are given on the making a copy page.
Please note that photocopiers are turned off from 30 minutes before closing.
Microform equipment
Microfilm and microfiche readers and reader printers can be found adjacent to the photocopying area. The reader printers allow A4 or A3 reproductions of pages from microforms, with payment made using a PCAS account (see the making a copy page for prices).
Closing routine
This commences half an hour before closure, when windows will be closed and ladders moved away from the aisles. Reader computers will be turned off 15 minutes before closure. A bell will be rung 10 minutes before closure, which is the signal for readers to finish working and leave. Please ensure that you take all your belongings with you when you leave the Library.
Please note that photocopiers are turned off and that staff-service photocopy orders are not accepted from 30 minutes before closing.
Fire Exit and Assembly Point
Exit via the North or South staircases and the Proscholium. Assemble in Brasenose Lane. Readers must leave the building promptly when the fire alarm sounds or when instructed to by library staff.
