The Weston Library, located on Broad Street in the heart of Oxford, is one of the most significant and forward-looking institutions in the Bodleian Libraries group. Originally built as a storage and research facility, the building underwent a dramatic transformation in the early 21st century to become a state-of-the-art research library, exhibition space, and cultural venue. Today, the Weston Library combines cutting-edge scholarly resources with public access, positioning itself as a vital hub for academics, students, and visitors alike.
Although steeped in the academic traditions of the University of Oxford, the Weston Library stands out for its contemporary approach to engaging with the public, displaying historic treasures, and facilitating global research.
Historical Background
The Weston Library was originally known as the New Bodleian Library, constructed between 1937 and 1940 to address the Bodleian’s urgent need for additional storage space. The Bodleian Library, one of the oldest in Europe and the second-largest in the UK after the British Library, was rapidly expanding its collections and needed a modern facility to house its growing archives.
The building was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect behind Liverpool Cathedral and the iconic red telephone box. His design for the New Bodleian was functional yet austere, a product of its time, with Art Deco influences. It featured reinforced concrete construction and included one of the earliest purpose-built library air-conditioning systems in the UK to help preserve rare materials.
Although innovative for its day, the building was not well suited for public access or modern library use. By the early 2000s, it was clear that a comprehensive renovation was necessary to bring the facility up to contemporary standards and to unlock the full potential of its collections.
Transformation into the Weston Library
In 2015, after a major renovation project costing approximately £80 million, the building reopened as the Weston Library, named in honour of Garfield Weston, whose charitable foundation contributed significantly to the restoration.
The transformation was overseen by the award-winning architectural firm WilkinsonEyre, who were tasked with preserving the building’s historical integrity while making it fit for 21st-century use. The result is a harmonious blend of tradition and modernity. The external facade remains largely unchanged, preserving Scott’s vision, but the interior has been completely reimagined to create open, light-filled spaces that encourage interaction, learning, and exploration.
Key new additions include:
- Blackwell Hall: A dramatic entrance space open to the public, named after Julian Blackwell of Blackwell’s Books. This space features a central café, a welcoming bookshop, and spaces for exhibitions and events.
- Exhibition spaces: The Treasury and temporary exhibition galleries allow the public to view priceless items from the Bodleian’s collections.
- Digital infrastructure: New reading rooms and research spaces are equipped with the latest digital tools to support global scholarship.
The Weston Library has been hailed as one of the most successful public building redevelopments in modern Oxford history.
Purpose and Use
The Weston Library is a key component of the Bodleian Libraries, a group of over 25 libraries serving the University of Oxford. Unlike some of the Bodleian’s other facilities, the Weston Library focuses on special collections, manuscripts, rare books, and archives.
Its functions include:
1. Research Library
The Weston serves as a reading room for scholars working with special materials. Researchers from around the world come here to study rare texts and manuscripts in its dedicated reading rooms:
- The Rare Books Reading Room
- The Charles Wendell David Reading Room (for manuscripts and archives)
Access is granted to those who need to consult the library’s collections for academic research, making it one of the premier destinations globally for humanities scholarship.
2. Conservation and Preservation
The Weston houses the Bodleian Conservation Studio, where a team of experts works on preserving fragile items. This includes repairing bindings, deacidifying paper, and digitising ancient texts to ensure their survival for future generations.
3. Public Engagement
One of the defining features of the Weston Library is its openness to the public. Unlike many of Oxford’s libraries that are reserved for students or members of the university, the Weston invites everyone in. Its Blackwell Hall is open without the need for library credentials, making it a space where scholars, tourists, and local residents converge.
The library regularly hosts:
- Major exhibitions, often featuring items from the Bodleian’s vast collections (which include over 13 million printed items and hundreds of thousands of manuscripts).
- Public lectures and events, including panel discussions, musical performances, and book launches.
- Workshops and educational programs aimed at school groups, families, and the broader public.
4. Digital Scholarship
The Weston Library supports digital humanities projects and innovation in scholarly research. It provides tools and expertise for text encoding, digital archiving, and metadata analysis. In this way, it helps bridge traditional scholarship with the opportunities offered by modern technology.
Treasures of the Weston Library
The Bodleian’s collections are among the richest in the world, and many of its most precious items are held and displayed at the Weston Library. Some highlights include:
- The Gutenberg Bible – One of only 21 complete copies in existence, this landmark of printing history is often displayed in the Treasury gallery.
- Shakespeare’s First Folio (1623) – The Weston holds several copies, and these are occasionally exhibited to mark special anniversaries.
- The Magna Carta – The Bodleian possesses four 13th-century copies, including a 1217 issue, crucial to the development of English constitutional law.
- J.R.R. Tolkien’s manuscripts – Including early drafts of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, along with his linguistic and mythological notes.
- Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein notebooks – The original manuscript drafts of one of the most influential novels in English literature.
- Codex Mendoza – A richly illustrated 16th-century document recording the history and culture of the Aztecs, created shortly after the Spanish conquest.
Exhibitions at the Weston rotate regularly, allowing different items to be showcased throughout the year, often with themes reflecting current research or anniversaries.
The Weston Library and the City of Oxford
Beyond its academic role, the Weston Library contributes significantly to Oxford’s cultural life. Located across from the Sheldonian Theatre and near the Clarendon Building and the Bodleian Old Library, it is at the heart of the city’s architectural and intellectual landscape.
Its café and public spaces have become a meeting point for residents and visitors, and its exhibitions attract thousands of tourists annually. In this way, the Weston serves as a bridge between the University and the public, helping demystify Oxford’s traditions and making learning accessible to all.
Conclusion
The Weston Library represents a perfect union of past and present. It holds within its walls some of the most precious documents in human history while offering modern facilities, digital scholarship opportunities, and public engagement in a way that few academic libraries can match.
Through its transformation from the old New Bodleian into the modern Weston Library, it stands as a beacon of innovation, preservation, and openness. Whether one visits to study ancient texts, view a world-class exhibition, attend a lecture, or simply have a coffee surrounded by history, the Weston Library offers an experience like no other.
It embodies the University of Oxford’s enduring commitment to knowledge, access, and global scholarship, ensuring that treasures of the past continue to inform and inspire the thinkers of today and tomorrow.
