The Old Library, the New Library and Group Study rooms in 10 Merton Street) are open 24/7. Closed periods, which usually happen over Christmas and during the Long Vacation, are advertised well in advance. The Library is staffed Monday to Friday, 8.30am-5pm (4pm on Fridays). During these hours Library staff are available to answer your queries in person or via email: library@univ.ox.ac.uk
Seating at desks is available on a first-come-first-served basis, but if you have any special requirements or access needs, please let us know. There are 40 desks available in the main reading room of the New Library. In the Group Study Rooms (10 Merton Street), where there are 18 desks, can be used on a drop-in, first-come-first-served basis. There are 56 desks across the two floors of the Old Library. On the ground floor of the Old Library there was two reader PCs which can be used by logging in with your SSO.
Browse-and-borrow is available in both libraries. You can find books on the shelves and issue them to yourself at the self-issue terminals located in both libraries by scanning your Bod. card and the items you wish to borrow. If you cannot find anything please drop in to one of the offices or email the Library Team. We can also help you find resources online and answer a variety of other queries so please do feel free to contact us with any queries about library-related matters.
The reading rooms in both libraries and the group study rooms will be cleaned regularly, but readers are encouraged to use the cleaning products provided to wipe down surfaces before and after use. While mask wearing is not mandatory, it is recommended, particularly as we enter the cold and ‘flu season. Please also try to keep windows open as much as possible to allow for good ventilation.
Please familiarise yourself with the Library rules which can be found on the noticeboards outside the libraries and on the intranet. If you have any queries, do not hesitate to contact the Library Team.
We post useful pieces of information to our social media pages as they become available, so keep an eye out for notifications from @univlib on Twitter and like our Facebook page.
Univcat is where you can search for physical resources in Univ Library. Please note that Univ’s modern collections do not show up on SOLO.
All our students and academics have access to the Bodleian Library which has a huge wealth of online and eResources. SOLO is the main tool for searching the Bodleian’s collections. In addition to helping you find resources available in the Bodleian, SOLO will help you find databases, scholarly reviews, theses, and much, much more.
For help on finding resources at the Bodleian, or for information on using their reading rooms, go to Oxford LibGuides and look for your subject. The LibGuide for your subject will tell you what’s available and how to get hold of it. There is also a LibGuide for the databases to which Oxford subscribes. This webpage will help you to get started using the Bodleian and its many resources.
Univ Library support undergraduate and graduate study with around 60,000 books as well as access to the University’s e-resources. The Library offers a 
The Old Library, situated in a Victorian building next to the Hall, houses Modern Languages, Philosophy, English, Classics, History and the hard sciences (Maths, Computation, Physics, Engineering, Earth Science, and the Biomedical Sciences). The New Library, which opened in October 2016 is in 10 Merton Street, and contains Law, Politics, Economics, Music, and collections about Oxford, College, and books by and about Old Members.
The Library has a generous budget for text books, but also provides a collection of books on study skills, writing essays, and staying healthy. In addition, students can make use a range of “extras” such as book-stands, whiteboards, molecular models, and page colour overlays, to name a few. We also have subject-specific items like Obadiah, our life-size skeleton, a model brain, molecular models, and a collection of Shakespeare DVDs. To borrow any of these items please email