Bodleian Libraries
The Bodleian Libraries are a collection of 28 libraries that serve the University of Oxford in England, including, most famously, the Bodleian Library itself, as well as many other (but not all) central and faculty libraries. As of the 2016–17 year, the libraries collectively hold almost 13 million printed items, as well as numerous other objects and artefacts. A major product of this collaboration has been a joint integrated library system, OLIS (Oxford Libraries Information System), and its public interface, SOLO (Search Oxford Libraries Online), which provides a union catalogue covering all member libraries, as well as the  libraries of individual colleges and other faculty libraries, which are not members of the group but do share cataloguing information. Its busiest library is the Social Sciences Library, which, at its peak, serves 7,500 visitors in a period of approximately nine weeks. History. Founded in February 2000 as Oxford University Library Services (OULS), the organisation was renamed on 2 March 2010. As of the 2018-2019 year, the group cares for almost 13 million printed items, of archives and manuscripts, and a staff of over 561 (full-time equivalents). It is the second largest library in the UK (behind the  British Library). The continued growth of the library has resulted in a severe shortage of storage space. Over 1.5 million items are stored outside Oxford. Locations formerly used included a redundant village church at Nuneham Courtenay and a disused salt mine in Cheshire. In 2007 and 2008, in an effort to obtain better and more capacious storage facilities for the library’s collections, Oxford University Library Services (OULS) tried to obtain planning permission to build a new book depository on the Osney Mead site, to the southwest of Oxford city centre. However, this application was unsuccessful and the new Book  Storage Facility was instead constructed at a site on South Marston Industrial Estate on the outskirts of Swindon. This Book Storage Facility, which cost £26 million, opened in October 2010 and has 153 miles (246 kilometres) of shelving, including 3,224 bays with 95,000 shelf levels, and 600 map cabinets to hold 1.2 million maps and other items. Previously-existing Osney Mead premises are used for backroom operations. Structure. The Bodleian Libraries group includes centralised departments: The current Director of the Libraries Richard Ovenden, like his predecessors Sarah Thomas and founding director Reginald Carr, holds the position concurrently with that  of Bodley's Librarian. Senior administrative staff are based in the Clarendon Building on the central Bodleian estate. Libraries. As of September 2017, the website of the group lists the following member libraries: A further 40 college libraries and 20 faculty and speciality libraries are not members of the group.