Libraries & Archives
Welcome to Magdalen College Libraries & Archives.
Magdalen College has a well-stocked circulating library, four specialist libraries, and extensive historical archives.
The New Library contains the circulating, reference and film collections, covering the full spectrum of academic disciplines. The primary readers are Magdalen students, academics and other staff. Others are always welcome to consult items that are not held by the Bodleian Libraries. Our considerable film collection is available to borrow. From 2014 to early 2016 the New Library is being renovated, as detailed on this page. Whilst the renovation is ongoing, the majority of our books are being stored off-site, with daily deliveries to the temporary St. Swithun’s Library (which also contains our reader spaces, 3,500 key books, and the film collection).
Magdalen’s specialist libraries are
- The Old Library: early printed and manuscript book collection;
- The Denning Law Library: contemporary reference-only law books and journals;
- The Daubeny Library: nineteenth-century scientific books; and
- The McFarlane Library: medieval-history subject collection.
The Archives record over seven hundred years of history, including 12,000 medieval deeds, official documents dating from the foundation of the College in 1458 to the present time, as well as the personal papers of some former Magdalen Presidents, Fellows and students.
We are a member of the Oxford Conservation Consortium, which provides the collections in our libraries and archives with specialist care.