The Bodleian Library, known to Oxford scholars as 'The Bod', opened in 1602 with a collection of 2000 books, assembled by Sir Thomas Bodley. It is in Broad Street, Oxford, Open Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm, Saturday 19am - 4.30pm during term time only. Entry admission is charged.

It incorporated an earlier library erected by the University in the fifteenth century to house a priceless collection of more than 281 manuscripts, including several important original classical texts donated by Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester.

Gradually over the years the Library has expanded in order to house the growing collection of books. Today, the Bodleian includes several off-site storage areas as well as nine other libraries in Oxford.

On Radcliffe Square you will find a number of buildings that are part of the Bodeian Library; the Old Schools Quadrangle, the oldest building of the Bodeian Library. Duke Humfrey's Library above the Divinity School, the Radcliffe Camera, and the Clarendon Building. The tower that is part of the Quadrangle is called the Tower of Five Orders and is named so because on top of the tower are five ornamented columns. and each of them is one of the five orders of classical architecture, Doric, Tuscan, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite.

The Bodleian Library is one of six copyright libraries entitled to receive a free copy of any book published in Britain for reference. The others are the British Library, Cambridge University Library, the National Library of Wales, the National Library of Scotland and the Library of Trinity College Dublin. On Radcliffe Square you will find the Old Schools Quadrangle, the oldest building of the Bodeian Library. Other buildings on this square that are part of the Bodeian Library are Duke Humfrey's Library above the Divinity School, the Radcliffe Camera, and the Clarendon Building.

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