| Weston Library | |
|---|---|
 View of the library building. | |
 | |
| Location | Broad Street,Oxford,United Kingdom |
| Type | Academic library |
| Established | 2015 (2015) |
| Collection | |
| Items collected | Books,journals,newspapers,magazines,sound and music recordings,maps,prints,drawings andmanuscripts |
| Access and use | |
| Access requirements | By reader card for the library itself. The Blackwell Hall, two exhibition rooms, a gift shop, and cafe are open to the public. |
| Members | Students and fellows ofUniversity of Oxford |
| Other information | |
| Website | bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston |
TheWeston Library is part of theBodleian Library, the mainresearch library of theUniversity of Oxford, reopened within the formerNew Bodleian Library building on the corner ofBroad Street andParks Road in centralOxford,England.
From 1937 to 1940, SirGiles Gilbert Scott worked on theNew Bodleian Library, inBroad Street, Oxford. It is not generally considered his finest work. Needing to provide storage for millions of books without building higher than the surrounding structures, Scott devised a construction going deep into the earth, behind two elevations no higher than those around them.[1] His biographer A. S. G. Butler commented, "In an attempt to be polite to these – which vary fromlate Gothic toVictorianTudor – Scott produced a not very impressiveneo-Jacobean design".[1] A later biographer,Gavin Stamp, praises the considerable technical achievement of keeping the building low in scale by building underground, but agrees that aesthetically the building is not among Scott's most successful designs.[2]Nikolaus Pevsner dismisses it as "neither one thing nor the other".[3]
The building was constructed ofBladon stone withClipsham dressings and was opened by KingGeorge VI.[4] TheRockefeller Foundation donated 60% of the £1 million cost for the new library building. It included administrative and reading rooms, together with an 11-storeybookstack, three of which are underground. This was connected with the original Bodleian Library underground by a conveyor belt system for books. It is still possible to walk underground between theRadcliffe Camera and the new library building.
In the early 21st century, the building was rebuilt internally to the design ofWilkinsonEyre behind its original façade to provide improved storage facilities for rare and fragile material, as well as better facilities for readers and visitors.[5] It reopened to readers as the Weston Library on 21 March 2015.[6]Richard Ovenden (Bodley's Librarian) awarded theBodley Medal toProfessor Stephen Hawking andSir David Attenborough as part of the official opening ceremony.
The transformed library has been generally well-received, being described as a "hey presto moment for thecity" byThe Independent newspaper.[7]
In July 2016, the building was shortlisted for theStirling Prize for excellence in architecture.[8]
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