牛津那些神秘又给力的图书馆……

A pretty obvious starting point, this dome-topped goliath has become the staple image to stand for all Oxford libraries, although it did not start out as such: built in 1748, the Camera would not become a useful reading room until a hundred years later, when then-librarian Henry Wentworth Acland developed its capabilities. Today it houses the History Faculty collection, which is why more students can be seen smoking outside the Camera than reading inside of it.

Being from St Hugh’s myself, I cannot deny there is some bias in this choice – nevertheless, Hugh’s boasts one of the most extensive libraries of any college, because when it was first built in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth (great-niece of the famous poet), it was an all-women college, so the university demanded it be built outside the city limits. Even worse, women were not allowed to use the Bodleian Library, which prompted the development of the huge library the college now has.

Although awkwardly funded by Christopher Codrington through a fortune made in plantation slavery, this library – situated in the realm of All Souls College, one of the most exclusive educational institutions in the world – is practically a mansion for books. Elegant, majestic, and with a signification collection of rare manuscripts, the Codrington is one of the jewels of the Oxford library scene.

This is the big daddy, the oldest library in Oxford. Students have to go through a full security check before going in to make sure they don’t take anything except paper and pencils in. This may seem a little extreme, but the library’s popularity has skyrocketing since it was used in the Harry Potter films as the Hogwarts Library, and zealous fans are always trying to sneak in.

This famous, or rather infamous, stretch of library is a stark underground area lit by harsh white light and decorated with nothing more than bits of metal. Students shuffle around the place in a zombie-like daze, unaware of the time, day, month or even year. It is, without a doubt, one of the most depressing, soul-absorbing places you might ever visit. By God, you get a lot of work done, though.

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