Weston Library

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Coordinates: 51°45′18″N 1°15′18″W / 51.755°N 1.255°W / 51.755; -1.255
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Weston Library
sound and music recordings, maps, prints, drawings and manuscripts
Access and use
Access requirementsBy reader card for the library itself. The Blackwell Hall, two exhibition rooms, a gift shop, and cafe are open to the public.
MembersStudents and fellows of University of Oxford
Other information
Websitebodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston
Weston Library is located in Oxford city centre
Weston Library
Weston Library
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Location of the Weston Library within central Oxford

The Weston Library is part of the Bodleian Library, the main research library of the University of Oxford, reopened within the former New Bodleian Library building on the corner of Broad Street and Parks Road in central Oxford, England.

History

The New Bodleian Library in November 2011 while closed during major refurbishment to create the Weston Library

From 1937 to 1940, Sir

neo-Jacobean design".[1] A later biographer, Gavin Stamp, praises the considerable technical achievement of keeping the building low in scale by building underground, but agrees that aesthetically the building is not among Scott's most successful designs.[2] Nikolaus Pevsner dismisses it as "neither one thing nor the other".[3]

The building was constructed of

bookstack, three of which are underground. This was connected with the original Bodleian Library underground by a conveyor belt system for books. It is still possible to walk underground between the Radcliffe Camera
and the new library building.

In the early 21st century, the building was rebuilt internally to the design of WilkinsonEyre behind its original façade to provide improved storage facilities for rare and fragile material, as well as better facilities for readers and visitors.[5] It reopened to readers as the Weston Library on 21 March 2015.[6] Richard Ovenden (Bodley's Librarian) awarded the Bodley Medal to Professor Stephen Hawking and Sir David Attenborough as part of the official opening ceremony.

The transformed library has been generally well-received, being described as a "hey presto moment for the city" by The Independent newspaper.[7]

In July 2016, the building was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize for excellence in architecture.[8]

Gallery

  • The Weston Library main entrance on Broad Street
    The Weston Library main entrance on Broad Street
  • The Blackwell Hall inside the library
    The Blackwell Hall inside the library
  • External view of the gift shop
    External view of the gift shop
  • View of the cafe
    View of the cafe

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Butler, A. S. G. Scott, Sir Giles Gilbert. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 22 June 2012. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Stamp, Gavin. Scott, Sir Giles Gilbert (1880–1960). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 21 June 2012. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help) (subscription required)
  3. ISBN 0140710450
    .
  4. ISBN 0-333-39917-X
    .
  5. ^ Oxford University Library Services: “Buildings Update”, accessed 10 February 2007. See also New Bodleian, accessed 2009-12-28.
  6. ^ "Weston Library opens to academics after £80m revamp". BBC News. UK: BBC. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  7. ^ Merrick, Jay (15 March 2015). "Oxford's New Bodleian Library has had a radical modernist makeover". The Independent. UK. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  8. ^ "Damien Hirst gallery and underground house among Riba Stirling Prize nominees". BBC News. 14 July 2016.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Weston Library, Oxford.


51°45′18″N 1°15′18″W / 51.755°N 1.255°W / 51.755; -1.255

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