Oxford Graduate Application 2012/13

no, there isn't one. you will hear through email and/or letter.

Ah cause you said "there is" and I thought you didn't know the existence. But yeah, of course they aren't on the selves, but if you are studying a course that justifies using them, then you can go and request to see them. They are at the Radcliffe Science Library, which is a part of the Bodleian. Btw, you can also use papyri.

They're not all in one place either - the Bod's stacks are all over the place.

Seriously, though, I can't see why it's such a bad thing that it's a reference library. If you can borrow books, then so can everybody else, meaning that there's no guarantee that you'll be able to gain access to everything you need. Whereas at the Bod you've pretty much got everything at your fingertips. Surely that's a good thing? OK, some stack orders take a day or two, but still, it's all there for you. Even if somebody else has ordered up a book from the stacks to one of the reading rooms you'll be able to view it as long as they're not using it at the time.
Obviously it means you have to drag yourself to the library in order to use the books, but that does have the advantage that while people have got the books they'll actually use them and not just take them out, put them on their desks and leave them there for weeks while other people can't get them, which is what constantly happens with lending libraries.

Papyri as well? That's very cool.

Ok, the fact that the books will always be there is a good thing. But let me explain (warning, it's long)
First of all, the Gladstone link:
It is quite time consuming finding a book (having to wait so that the aisles around the book you want are free etc) and then, if by the end of the day you haven't finished, you have to give it back, which means having to find it again the next morning. That's very annoying.
Secondly:
the problem is that not all books are there. Even though I am grateful that the Sackler library exists (the main Classics library, where we can borrow books etc) this means that most of our books will be there, whereas quite a lot of them at the Bod/Gladstone link. This means that many times whilst we are researching we will need a book that we can't actually have, so having the books all the time etc is not really the case for us.
Third (and biggest problem imo):
When someone ends up spending most of their day in a library (because of the fact that it's reference only), this means that they will have to take breaks to eat. I understand that food is not allowed in the library (although some coffee would be nice) but the fact that there is no place for us to go and eat our lunch is in my opinion unacceptable. This leaves one with two options: either they go to a coffee place/pub and end up spending a fortune, or they bring food from home (which is good for their budget) but end up with no place to actually eat it!! Especially when it's freezing outside, where are we gonna go? Stand in the middle of the street with a salad/chicken at hand? Unless there is a place in the Bod for such a need, but I haven't discovered one, so if I'm wrong please let me know.

So to sum it up, there are some changes that need to happen!
First of all we should be able to reserve all the books for the next day.
And there should be a common room, or something like that, preferably with a vending machine for coffee, so that people can go eat.

Who or what is the Gladstone link? Is this something classics-specific?

Anyway, as far as lunch is concerned, there are plenty of places less than a 5-minute walk away on Broad Street and Cornmarket, some of which will even give you a discount with your bod-card. And if you want somewhere where you can sit and eat inside, you could go inside Blackwell's or, if you don't mind a slightly longer walk, the University Club just beyond Mansfield. You could probably even pop over to Christ Church for lunch at the dining hall, although that's probably the furthest of the lot.
OK, it isn't ideal, but it's perfectly manageable.

I doubt Blackwells would be ok with me eating my packed lunch in there. Yeah the lunch thing is a big problem for me, it's probably psychological, but 30 mins after I start studying in the Bod I get hunger pains.

The Gladstone link is a new facility (not classics specific) you should check it out, it's pretty impressive. It's weird how you haven't encountered it yet on SOLO, many of my books are there
It used to be a storage space, but over summer they converted it to a study area, with many books that used to be closed stack, now being on display. The books are organised by published date, and they are the "high use" books, namely the ones requested more than 5 times in 10 years (). The reason I know all this is because they told us on fresher's week btw.
The area is pretty modern, but it's underground so as a friend of mine said, it looks a bit like a refugee camp There is an underground aisle that leads from the Bod to the Radcliffe camera, under which the Gladstone link is, and this means that now we can actually transfer books from the Bod to the Rad Cam. The good thing with the Gladstone link is that it's open on Sundays. The bad thing is that it uses a weird type of shelves, which are VERY impressive (seriously, go check it! It's amazing), but very difficult to use. Basically, they move. For every 5-6 shelves there is only the equivalent of one free space in between, and you have to roll the shelves to the side, to make room for the one you want. This of course means that it's very time consuming, especially if people are using one of the shelves near to the one you want, cause you have to wait for them to finish, or else you ll crush them

cool, I found a pic of the shelves, at another uni though, but they look almost identical http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Firestone_Library_Princeton_mobile_aisle_shelving.jpg

Those are just normal rolling stacks. You find them in lots of places.

I meant the Cafe Nero on the second floor.

.

yeah I gathered. But is it accepted to eat your own food there? Cause in Greece it wouldn't be.

Well, every time I've been there so far, the staff didn't seem massively alert, and it's self-service anyway, so you could probably get away with it. It might be wise to buy a token cup of coffee, though (but from what you said, you were probably planning to do that anyway).

Well, every time I've been there so far, the staff didn't seem massively alert, and it's self-service anyway, so you could probably get away with it. It might be wise to buy a token cup of coffee, though (but from what you said, you were probably planning to do that anyway).

I was told the actual Gladstonian shelves in the Gladstone link (the ones which, apparently, he designed -- which isn't implausible, he had a lot of books) are the extremely old-looking green metal ones which have a weird attachment to the ceiling and don't move.

Anyway, I quite like the Link. It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to design a two-floor basement with decor equal parts 'temporary toilet' and 'military bunker' and then call it a library.

I was told the actual Gladstonian shelves in the Gladstone link (the ones which, apparently, he designed -- which isn't implausible, he had a lot of books) are the extremely old-looking green metal ones which have a weird attachment to the ceiling and don't move.

Anyway, I quite like the Link. It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to design a two-floor basement with decor equal parts 'temporary toilet' and 'military bunker' and then call it a library.

better not to rake up this issue and bring unnecessary attention to it?