All printed materials held in the library can be found on SOLO, Oxford University's library catalogue. For each item, SOLO provides a shelfmark and location information. Items available on open shelves are displayed with their location: ‘Lower Reading Room Open Shelves’, ‘Upper Reading Room Open Shelves’ or ‘Duke Humfrey’s Library Open Shelves’. The item’s shelfmark will help you to locate it.
The Lower Reading Room is partitioned into smaller rooms:
- north side: General Reference, Classics Latin and Classics Greek
- south side: Patristics, Theology and Philosophy
- central ‘Tower Room’ : Late Antiquity and the beginning of the Classics Greek collections
The Upper Reading Room holds printed books and periodicals published after 1640 in the subject fields of:
- Medieval and Modern History
- History of Science
- English Language and Literature
Duke Humfrey’s Library holds collections supporting higher-level studies in the Humanities. The collections include local history, historical reference, historical biography and University history.
Find out more about the collections held in each of the Old Library reading rooms.
Open shelf material is replaced throughout the day if it is left on replacement trolleys or if it appears to be finished with on empty desks.