To the Bodleian

So, hoping to be let into the Bodleian Library, I went to talk to the librarians there.

I had been kindly given a letter of recommendation from the University of Toronto library, which I hoped would give me a better chance of entering the library.

The Oxford library website had not given me much hope -- indeed, Oxford does not even allow their own Undergraduates to use the Bodleian library.

Still, I was determined to try.

Well, the first thing I saw was certainly no cause for hope -- a professor from Oxford wanted to bring a guest (another Professor) into the Bodleian -- she was flatly refused.

The librarian hemmed and hawwed after seeing my letter, and she finally said that they could possibly consider the case, if I provided them with some books which I wanted to look at. Well, I didn't have that with me (and indeed, when I later looked carefully, the Bodleian didn't have any books which I could prove I had a NEED to see).

So, no hope there.

(Thankfully, there are other libraries, in other countries, which are much less strict than Oxford. Indeed, they encourage visitors to see their restricted collections. I'll tell you about the Uppsala Library later).