Radcliffe Science Library
Holdings
The Radcliffe Science Library is the main science library of Oxford University. It supports the teaching and research needs of the science departments across the University with strong collections in Physical Sciences, Biological Sciences, Medicine, Experimental Psychology, Mathematics, Computing Science, Geography and History of Science.
The RSL holds the Legal Deposit material in the sciences for Oxford University. This means that it is entitled to receive a copy of all British scientific publications. In addition, the RSL subscribes to many journals published overseas, most of which are in English. Scientific doctoral theses submitted for degrees at Oxford are deposited in the Library. There is a strong historical science collection, especially from the 19th century.
There are approx. 1 million items held by the RSL, however, only about one quarter of the Library's books and journals are displayed in the Reading Rooms, the rest are housed in remote storage and most journals are available electronically.
Reading rooms
There are reading rooms on all levels of the library. Level 2 is underground and houses the book collection, levels 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 house the print journal collection. Level 4 is the ground floor entrance and the main enquiry point.
Remote storage
A lot of material in the library is housed in offsite bookstacks; it can be requested via the OLIS catalogue using the Automated Stack Request system (ASR). Delivery times from remote storage can vary: estimated arrival time is indicated on OLIS.
Help: placing a stack request [Opens in new window.]
Catalogues
Most (about 90%) of RSL holdings are catalogued on OLIS. This includes all current accessions since 1988. All monographs and the majority of periodical titles are on OLIS.
SOLO: Search Oxford Libraries Online
SOLO is the search and discovery tool for the vast collection of resources in Oxford Libraries. A search on SOLO will bring back results from both OLIS (the University's union catalogue of printed and electronic books, and print journals) and ORA (Oxford University Research Archive).
OLIS: Library catalogue
Printed journals and books are catalogued on the University's public access online catalogue OLIS. OLIS is a union catalogue of Oxford University libraries and includes some which are not available for use by Science at Oxford Libraries readers.
OLIS displays a shelfmark and location for the item that you require. The location indicates whether the item is on open access or in closed access bookstacks.
Help: searching OLIS [Opens in new window.]
Oxford University e-journals
Oxford University's electronic journals subscriptions are listed in OU e-Journals.
Help: guide to e-resouces [Opens in new window.]