Radcliffe Library
The library seen from the north
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| Country | England, United Kingdom |
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| Type | Academic library |
| Established | 1861 |
| Location | Parks Road, Oxford, England |
| Coordinates | 51°45′28″N 1°15′21″W / 51.7579°N 1.2559°WCoordinates: 51°45′28″N 1°15′21″W / 51.7579°N 1.2559°W |
| Branch of | Bodleian Library |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | Books and journals in the biological sciences, computing science, experimental psychology, history of science, mathematics, medicine and the physical sciences |
| Size | Around one million items |
| Legal deposit | The library holds the Legal Deposit material in the sciences for Oxford University |
| Access and use | |
| Access requirements | University Card or Bodleian Libraries reader's card |
| Website | www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/science |
The Radcliffe Science Library (RSL) is the main teaching and research science library at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England.
Being officially part of the Bodleian Libraries, although with a completely separate building, the library holds the Legal Deposit material for the sciences and is thus entitled to receive a copy of all British scientific publications. The library holds around a million items, with about a quarter of the holdings on display in the reading rooms and the rest held in storage. It is one of the busiest libraries in Oxford, with just over 120,000 visits by approximately 16,000 individuals, and 272,000 items checked out or renewed, in 2008/9.
The scientific books housed in the Radcliffe Camera were transferred to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in 1861. On land next to the museum (on the corner of Parks Road and South Parks Road) a new library building opened in 1901, the Radcliffe Library. The library is named after John Radcliffe, a major benefactor of the University, like a number of other buildings in Oxford.
In 1927, the library lost its independence, for financial efficiency becoming part of the Bodleian Library. The library took on its current name, the Radcliffe Science Library, and gained the right as a legal deposit library to receive a copy of all new British scientific publications.
The library has doors with relief wood carvings by Don Potter, undertaken while he was studying with the sculptor Eric Gill.
With the construction of a basement in the 1970s, part of the building was used to form The Hooke Library, a (separate) science lending library for undergraduates. The library was named after Robert Hooke, a scientist who worked in Oxford. The Hooke Library housed its collection in the Abbot's Kitchen which was originally part of the University Museum and on the staircase at the eastern end of the Jackson Wing of the RSL. The area which housed the Hooke Library collection is now part of the Radcliffe Science Library with the Abbot's Kitchen having been transformed into a refreshment area and a training room.
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