New College Library

Note that opening hours may sometimes change at short notice. If travelling to visit a library you are advised to check with the library to confirm details.

Note that by necessity these policies are much simplified and provided for initial guidance only. Please check with the library for full details.

The Library was founded in 1379. Its 70,000-book collection of modern texts covers all undergraduate and postgraduate subjects taught in the College. The College admits students for almost all subjects, so the coverage of the collection is wide and spans most Humanities, Social Sciences, and Science disciplines. A General Interest Collection comprises: Literature, Biography, Travel Guides, Very Short Introductions, Study Skills, and Welfare books. There is also an extensive collection of DVDs, which provides one of the University’s finest collections of borrowable films, supporting courses and catering for leisure and pleasure use. An alumni collection contains books by many eminent New College writers. There are internationally renowned collections of manuscripts and rare books. These comprise notably c.400 medieval manuscripts, which include such celebrated treasures as the early 13th-century de Brailes Psalter, known as the “New College Psalter”, and an early 14th-century, illuminated Anglo-Norman prose translation of the Apocalypse of St John, the “New College Apocalypse”. Of all Oxford’s medieval colleges, New College has the largest collection of manuscript books remaining in situ. More recent manuscripts include the Sir Isaac Newton Papers. There are around 30,000 early printed volumes, which include c.340 incunabula (fifteenth-century European imprints)—the largest number held by any of Oxford’s undergraduate colleges—and c.560 STC books (British Isles imprints and English books printed abroad up to 1640). The early printed collections are especially strong in Law, Theology, Classics, Early Medicine, and Science. The Archives are rich and extensive, with the oldest documents dating from the 11th century. They include administrative records of the College since 1379, title deeds and manorial records of its estates in twenty-eight counties, and more recent papers and special collections amassed by or relating to some of its members.