All Souls College, The Library: How to become a Reader

Update April 2025

The Library has paused the registration of new Readers for the rest of the academic year 2025. Any further information about registration will be available on the Library’s website in due course.

Registered Readers are welcome to use the Library as usual, and any Reader who has started the registration process but has not yet completed the steps or has not yet had a card appointment will still be able to finish registration. 

Registered Readers are required to renew their access every academic year; the forms may be found here:  

For those Readers with a current University of Oxford affiliation, please visit the renewal form. 

For those Readers without a current University of Oxford affiliation, please visit the renewal form. 

A registered Reader with a new Bodleian/University card will need to book an appointment for their card to be added to the Library’s door access system. 

The Library is open by application (or by appointment to see specific material) to anyone undertaking academic work.

Any current member of the University of Oxford is welcome to apply to be a Library Reader: this applies to both undergraduates and graduates, as well as to fellows, tutors, researchers, and staff from other colleges and departments. NB: The Library has paused the application of new Readers for the rest of the academic year 2025.

The Library traditionally supports those studying law and history, but the collections, especially the early printed books collections, are much broader in subject coverage. Although most college libraries are exclusively for their own members, the Library, All Souls College often acquires material which is not held elsewhere in Oxford, to allow anyone studying here to have access to otherwise inaccessible or unavailable items.

All registered Readers must follow three simple rules:

1. No food or beverages are allowed in the Library, except for still water in a clear plastic bottle with a secured lid, left on the floor when not in use.
2. Registered Readers may not bring any guests or tour groups into the Library.
3. Readers may not take photographs in the Library (including selfies), except for pages of modern books as allowed by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Readers may not take photographs of special collection materials. These can be requested from the Librarian-in-Charge.

Registered Readers are required to abide by the Rules of Conduct of the All Souls College Library.