SEMESTERS

Resources

Computer Facilities

CMRS has a networked AppleMac computing system with permanent access to the internet. The Computer Room, open 24 hours a day, has AppleMacs and a cross-platform printer for general use. Hardware and software are upgraded and expanded regularly. There are ethernet points in teaching rooms and every study-bedroom in St Michael’s Hall, and most of the building is covered by wireless networks. Students are encouraged to bring their own laptops.

Libraries

Oxford has one of the world’s largest and most varied collections of manuscripts and printed books. The main libraries to which CMRS students enjoy access are the following:

Oxford University Libraries

CMRS students are presented for admission as readers of the Oxford University Library Services (OULS) in the ten week period of each semester that falls within the University terms. As OULS readers CMRS students may gain access to all of the system’s thirty-eight libraries, whose specialisms range from history to physical science, from archaeology to theology, taking in social sciences and various types of literature along the way. Altogether the OULS libraries hold over eleven million volumes.

Chief among these libraries is the Bodleian (Bodley), taking its name from Sir Thomas Bodley, who refounded it on the site of the previous, fifteenth-century library. It was opened on 8 November 1602 and has an unbroken history from that time. Bodleian buildings include Duke Humfrey’s Library above the Divinity School, the Old Schools Quadrangle with its Great Gate and Tower of the Five Orders, and the Radcliffe Camera, Britain’s first circular library. It now contains more than seven million volumes, and is an international centre for advanced study and research. Thus, the Bodleian is a reference not a lending library, but CMRS students may use it whenever it is open.

St. Peter's College Library

The College library is open at specified hours to CMRS students on a non-borrowing basis. The library has a collection of about 60,000 books and periodicals, with about 75 reader places. The library is automated, and its holdings listed on the University’s union catalogue OLIS. It is situated in Linton House, a handsome Georgian rectory dating from 1797, which forms the entrance to the College. It is a convenient place to read books and work in the company of others.

Feneley Library at CMRS

This library, with a collection of about 20,000 volumes, contains the standard works and reference books required by undergraduates for the subjects taught here, as well as several specialized collections of value mainly to graduates. The rapid growth of the library has been made possible by regular purchases and by several donations, most notably from the Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust, the Margaret Thatcher Charitable Trust, Sir Basil Blackwell, Cynthia Crawford and the Benevolent Aid Fund. The library received a collection of incunabula and early printed books from the Society of St John the Evangelist in 1978, the Geraldine Norman Collection of art auction catalogues in 1980, and a library of modern books from the University of San Diego in 1981.

Most books can now be accessed from the computer terminal in the foyer outside the library. The Card Catalogue is located in the cabinet in the Computer Lab and is in author order. The shelfmark is located at the top right of each card.

The Charles Williams Collection

This collection of books, articles, biographies and photographs has been placed on loan at CMRS by the Charles Williams Society. Charles Williams (1886-1945) was a poet, novelist and theologian who spent his working life from 1908 until his death at the Oxford University Press. With his friends C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien he was a founder member of the ‘Inklings’, a literary, philosophical and theological discussion group based in Oxford between the wars.

Pusey House

Pusey House, opened in 1884, was founded to commemorate the work of Edward Bouverie Pusey (1800-1882), the reforming theologian. It is one of the two best theological libraries in Oxford with a collection of 80,000 volumes, specialising in Church History, Patristics and Liturgy. It holds the most significant archive of manuscript and printed materials relating to the Tractarian and Oxford Movement. The Library charges £5 for a reader’s ticket.

Oxford Central Library

All CMRS students may obtain tickets for this free library which houses, in addition to its main lending and reference sections, material of interest for specialist research, particularly in the field of local history.

Oxford Union Society Library

From its earliest days, a general lending library has been maintained by the Union Society which now contains valuable resources for the study of English literature, history, politics, philosophy and theology. Membership of the Society is by subscription, not included in CMRS fees.