Libraries and Christmas Shopping

   Doing this post will give me an excuse to avoid shopping. Reading it will have the added benefit of allowing you to avoid shopping. As a bonus, I will provide you with some gift suggestions, which could be useful if you ever get around to going out. 
 

Oxford Libraries
   I have documented the decline in the number of libraries on the campus close by, along with the reduction in the quality of collections held within them. While Oxford clearly had a head start when it comes to libraries, it is unfortunate that Western stopped paying much attention to them. At least we can still read about libraries. Here is a link to, Oxford Libraries Architecture. 
  To assist you in making the purchasing decision, see this review: "Timeless Temples of the Written Word: Oxford Might Best Be Described as a City of Books," William Aslet, The Critic, Sept.6, 2025.

   "The Bodleian is the most famous of Oxford’s libraries, but it is far from being the sole subject of this book. Indeed, the Bodleian is actually a collection of 26 different library spaces. Nor are these the only libraries available to scholars at Oxford. Every one of the University’s 39 constituent colleges has its own library, added to which is the Bodleian’s formidable and increasingly popular online offering, Digital Bodleian.

   It is a reflection of the astonishing diversity of Oxford’s libraries that the 46 examples (one at Oxford Brookes) described and illustrated in this book only constitute a fraction of the total number of library spaces that are today available to students and scholars."

   The book can be ordered online, but unfortunately it won't arrive before Christmas and costs over $100.

Biscuits and the Bodleian

     Evidence of entrepreneurship is also found among the books at Oxford. The librarians partnered with Sky Wave Distilling, winner of the World's Best Gin, to host a special tour in "the stunning Divinity School, including a romp through the history of gin and tasting notes to match the gin you will be tasting." Unfortunately that tour is over, but one can still shop at Oxford. Although one can find items cheaper than the book, they also will not arrive before Christmas. Some more examples:

Digital Bodleian
   The librarians at Oxford are not Luddites. If you cannot afford the book or even the biscuits, and don't want to go out shopping, you can spend this year and even the next one reading the books and manuscripts found by clicking on the link above. You will even find photographs. Here is one of Tom Stoppard, who recently passed.

The Bonus:

  Older and cheaper options will be found in these past posts:
"More Books For Christmas" 
"Books For Christmas"  (more links are found in this one.)