Eighteen months, 22 libraries, and an alarming number of opinions about chairs, toilets, and functioning lifts.
Somewhere along the way in my DPhil, I developed an unusually strong interest in library toilets. This wasn’t exactly the sort of thing I anticipated caring about when I arrived at Oxford. After spending eighteen months visiting every single library in the Bodleian network, I’ve discovered that the difference between a wonderful working library and a miserable one often comes down to the most mundane things: a comfortable chair, decent lighting, a desk at a height made for an average-sized human, and whether accessing the toilet requires a minor expedition.
Between March 2025 and October 2026, I visited all 22 Bodleian libraries, from the magnificent historic reading rooms of central Oxford to the obscure medical libraries tucked away inside hospitals. What started as a way of exploring different places to work gradually became a personal challenge. Once I’d visited enough, it seemed ridiculous not to finish. Of course, even counting the libraries is complicated, since the University spent much of my challenge rearranging its library estate. Several smaller faculty libraries have been consolidated into the new Bodleian Humanities Library at the Schwarzman Centre, while other collections have moved or merged. For my purposes, I counted 22 distinct library locations, treating the various reading rooms within the Old Bodleian, for example, as one library. And having spent hours actually working in each one, I have many thoughts.
Beauty is not everything
Oxford is hardly short of beautiful libraries. The Radcliffe Camera is iconic, Duke Humfrey’s Library feels like something out of another century, and the Old Bodleian’s Upper Reading Room is one of my absolute favourites. But my personal beauty queen is the Taylor Institution Library. Find a seat at the west-facing end of the upper gallery around sunset, and you’ll understand why. Watching the evening light fall over Oxford from that magnificent old reading room is difficult to beat.
Unfortunately, beauty doesn’t necessarily translate into productivity. I want a chair that doesn’t leave my back aching after six hours, a desk at a sensible height, and ideally somewhere to rest my eyes other than a wooden partition directly in front of my face.
The new Bodleian Humanities Library gets this balance remarkably right. It’s modern, spacious, aesthetically pleasing, and genuinely designed for people to work in. The Old Bodleian’s Upper Reading Room surprisingly also manages to combine historic grandeur with a comfortable working environment. Meanwhile, the Gladstone Link deserves an award for the least inspiring study environment. Essentially an underground bunker filled with bookshelves, it makes me wonder why anyone would voluntarily spend their afternoon there when Oxford has so many beautiful spaces above ground.
The surprisingly important business of basic facilities
The longer I spent exploring libraries, the pickier I became about things I’d previously taken for granted. Temperature, for example, can make or break a working day. During Oxford’s summer heatwaves, I discovered that the Girdlestone Memorial Library at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre has wonderfully effective air conditioning. Forget the picturesque reading rooms: when it’s unbearably hot outside, a tiny hospital library with functioning climate control starts looking extremely attractive.
Then there are the toilets. Some libraries have conveniently located facilities. Others require you to navigate several floors, multiple doors, or narrow staircases simply to answer nature’s call. At the Radcliffe Science Library, the number of times I found myself scanning my Bod card to get through yet another door made the experience feel vaguely reminiscent of a maximum-security prison.
More seriously, I spent part of this challenge on crutches after developing bilateral Achilles tendinitis. It gave me a very different perspective on accessibility. At the Vere Harmsworth Library, for instance, the lifts had apparently been out of order for a considerable time. I could, with difficulty, hobble up the stairs. But what about someone using a wheelchair? Having accessible facilities is rather meaningless if the means of reaching them don’t work. The librarians were sympathetic and helpful, but the experience made me realise just how much Oxford’s beautiful historic and modern buildings can fall short of providing genuinely accessible working environments for all readers.
The peculiar rituals of Oxford libraries
If there’s one thing Oxford does exceptionally well, it’s making an ordinary activity feel like an elaborate institutional ceremony. The Weston Library takes the prize for the most intense security procedures. Everything goes into a locker, water is forbidden, and upon leaving, you’re asked to flip through your notes and open your laptop to prove you haven’t somehow concealed a priceless manuscript inside. To be fair, the precautions make sense. On one visit, I watched a researcher carefully unroll an enormous historical scroll across a reading-room table with a librarian’s assistance. It was an extraordinary sight and a reminder that these aren’t merely attractive study spaces – they’re working repositories of remarkable historical collections. Still, there’s something wonderfully Oxford about needing to prove you haven’t smuggled a medieval manuscript out in your laptop.
The ‘hidden gems’
One of the greatest pleasures of this challenge was discovering libraries I would otherwise never have visited. The Education Library is a particular favourite. It feels like a house converted into a library, with large windows, greenery, cosy reading nooks, and even rocking chairs. It also has two gloriously ergonomic workstations, although securing one can feel like winning a small lottery.
The hospital libraries were another revelation. The Cairns Library at the John Radcliffe is surprisingly spacious, although finding it involves navigating what feels like a hospital labyrinth. The Knowledge Centre at Old Road Campus is smaller, but modern and well-equipped. These aren’t the libraries that feature on postcards, but they’re part of what makes the Bodleian network so interesting.
And the winner is…
After 22 libraries, I still struggle to choose one outright winner. My three five-star favourites are the new Bodleian Humanities Library, the Old Bodleian’s Upper Reading Room, and the Weston Library. Each offers something quite different: modern comfort, historic grandeur, and the extraordinary atmosphere of active archival research. For sheer beauty, the Taylorian wins. For cosy charm, the Education Library. For surviving an Oxford heatwave, the Girdlestone. And for making you appreciate the existence of windows, the Gladstone Link wins by a landslide.
But perhaps the most memorable part was the ending. On 5th October 2026, I was crazy enough to take an hour and a half bus to Banbury to visit the Horton Hospital Library: number 22. After eighteen months of exploring some of Oxford’s most extraordinary buildings, my grand finale took place in a tiny hospital library with colourful chairs and a round table. The librarian was delighted by my challenge and mentioned that, as far as she knew, only three other people had ever completed it. She even joked about creating a commemorative booklet for people who had visited them all, so I asked her to take a photograph of me. She did, and that was that. No certificate, no ceremony. Just a photograph in a little library in Banbury and the rather satisfying knowledge that I’d finally done it. And that felt like a fitting ending.
What began as an excuse to explore new places to work became one of my favourite experiences of my DPhil. I discovered corners of Oxford I’d never otherwise have seen, learned a great deal about what makes a genuinely good working environment, and developed opinions about library furniture that I suspect will stay with me for life. I’d encourage you to venture beyond your usual reading room. You might discover your new favourite place to work. Or, at the very least, somewhere with better chairs.
