In 1320, Bishop Cobham of Worcester donated a number of manuscripts to Oxford University. His plan to build a library was not completed due to his premature death, and the books were pawned to pay off debts. Later Oriel College redeemed the book for preservation and transferred it to St. Mary's Church in 1367.
1411 is regularly open for reading. From 1435 to 1447, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, brother of King Henry V, donated his 600 manuscript collections to Oxford University. Most of the collections were classical works in Greek and Latin, as well as books in French and Italian at that time. .
In 1480, these books were moved to the newly built seminary building. Duke Humphrey's Library was established in 1488. When King Henry VIII of England implemented the religious reform from 1536 to 1539, these books were destroyed as Catholic documents.
In 1550, Edward VIII’s Royal Commission looted all the remaining books and even moved the bookshelves away. Soon a fire destroyed it. It was not until 1598 that the diplomat T. Bodley, a former researcher at Oxford University, had his plan to rebuild the museum accepted by the school, and it could not be rebuilt. Bodley personally supervised the renovation project, presided over the design, collected books extensively, and donated his own book collection.
In 1602, after four years of hard work, the library was opened with a collection of more than 2,000 books. Soon Bodley used the donated funds to establish a foundation to ensure the library's funding. He also worked hard to make the library one of the five libraries in the UK that accepts deposited copies of publications.
It was named the Bodleian Library after the King of England visited it twice in 1605 and 1610. In the 1920s, the Radcliffe Science Library, the Indian Institute Library and the Rhodes House Library were merged into the library.
In 1939, with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, the new Bodleian Building was completed, mainly serving as a library and offices for the book organization department. The Bodleian Library includes the old library (mainly collecting professional documents such as British literature, modern history, ancient history, classical language and literature), and the new library (mainly collecting philosophy, politics, economics, geography, maps, music, Oriental studies, Slavic studies and other professional documents), Radcliffe Library (mainly collecting professional documents such as modern history, education, culture and art, English literature, Latin American studies, etc.), Radcliffe Science Library, Law Library, Indian Institute Library and Rhodes House Library. In addition, each department has a comprehensive or specialized library.
Until the late 1950s, the library had the largest collection of books in the UK, and it gave way to the British Library in the early 1960s.
As of July 31, 1986, the *** collected 5 million books, 134,000 manuscripts, more than 5,000 ancient books, 985,000 maps, 242,000 volumes of microfilm, and 49,000 current periodicals. The library has 24 reading rooms with 2,078 seats, receiving an average of 32,000 readers every day. ***There are 374 staff members. It provides lending, reading, interlibrary loan, reference, copying and other services. It also frequently holds lectures, exhibitions and publishes publications such as "Bodleian Library Records".