Bodleian Art, Archaeology & Ancient World Library

It's been a great couple of years, but we're moving on 🥹 From today, the Art Library's social media presence will be exclusively over on BlueSky! Come and join us over there to continue with updates, displays, and brand new #FYIFriday!

Anyone who's used our Classics Lending Library recently will be pleased to hear that we're three-quarters of the way through re-classifying it! Soon we will have done away with the old shelfmarks, and changed them all to the (much more intelligible) Library of Congress system 📚

We've made a start on our book swap, but we need your help! If you have any books you want to give to a new home just pop them on the shelf in the break room. They don't have to be relevant to our collections - if you think someone will enjoy them then that's all that matters!

Today marks four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on Ukraine. In solidarity, we've done our best to highlight our Ukrainian collections in that time, and you can find our blog posts about them here: blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/sackler/2023/0… blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/sackler/2025/0…

You may have seen an empty display case hanging around the entrance to the ground floor reading room for a while. We're planning on putting some of our special collections on display, and we would love your input! What would you like to see in there? Let us know in the comments!

For this mid-term New Books Display, we're featuring Ancient Iraq, Byzantine Dynasties, and the international market for prints!

Happy LGBTQ+ History Month! The theme this year is Science and Innovation, so to celebrate we have put together our new display; "Queer Pioneers, mixing Science with Art and Archaeology" 📚🌈

🪴Our new break room is officially open🪴 It's a little bare-bones right now, but we'll be sprucing it up over the next few months - and you can help! Let us know what you would like to see in there, either in the comments below or in-person!

We heard it's National Pop Art Day! Far beyond soup cans and comic books, Pop art is one of the most easily recognisable post-war art movements, characterised by bold colours and images from mass culture. You can learn more on the second floor!

Happy Monday! Our new book display this week features Medieval Winchester, colour science, and Giambattista Piranesi.

📚Library Reminder📚 If you're hanging on to any Vac Loans, they're due back today!

Let's break up #BlueMonday with a pop of colour! Head to the ground floor to check out "Pigments of the Imagination: Art and Archaeology from across the colour spectrum"

Exciting news: we're getting a break room! Over the next few weeks we'll be repurposing our locker room into a comfortable area where you can have food and drinks without having to hover in the lobby. If you have questions or comments, feel free to leave them below!

It's the first Noughth week of 2026! We have some exciting library updates coming up this term, so stay tuned...

We have a new comfy seating area on the second floor! If you need to take a break from your desk, pop yourself down next to the Art Journal display, and relax 🛋️ (it's still not an eating area though - sorry!)

Welcome back for the first full week of 2026! We have plenty of space if you're looking to get out of the cold in the run-up to Hilary term ❄️

❄️Quick reminder that we close for Vacation at 5pm today❄️ Make sure to borrow or return any books you need for the holidays, because your next chance will be on 2nd January next year! Happy holidays from the Art Library team!

Doing a bit of early spring cleaning? We now have a sub fusc donation point! Feel free to drop off robes, mortar boards, bow ties and ribbons, so they can be washed and given a new home!

That's a wrap on another Michaelmas term! Before you head home for the holidays, why not have a look at our festive display; "The Art and Archaeology of Eating Drinking and Being Merry"? We also have an accompanying blog post if you want more detail, via the link in our bio!

❄️Vac loans are here again!❄️ From today all loans from the CLASSICS LENDING LIBRARY ONLY will be due back on Tuesday 20th January. All other loans will have their standard loan period. Please check due dates before taking books home for the vacation.