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December 01, 2005: Oxford Libraries' Funding Needs are Critical
" One of Oxford's most critical funding needs is for its libraries, which the university has earmarked for a 100 million- pound facelift. The Bodleian Library, which, as the world's first copyright library, gets one copy of every book published in the U.K., opened in 1602. Next door are the Radcliffe Camera, an 18th-century library and Oxford landmark, and the Sir Gilbert Scott-designed New Bodleian, which opened in 1940."
"Underneath the three buildings and reaching up into the New Bodleian are the stacks housing 130 miles (209 kilometers) of shelves with 4.5 million books. Among the titles are 10,000 medieval, Western illuminated manuscripts that are adorned with colorful illustrations, an original copy of Franz Kafka's ``The Trial'' and the maps used to plan D-day."


