The Weston Flashcards
The Weston Library
The facade of this building has been at odds with the beauty of the buildings that surround it since it was completed in 1940. Jan Morris the travel writer described it as resembling a well-equipped municipal swimming baths. It can accommodate 5 million volumes. A tunnel beneath Broad Street connects the old Bodleian to the new, and contains a conveyor belt to take books from one side to the other. Part of the D Day landings were planned in the vaults here.
At the opening ceremony King George VI was presented with an ornate key to the main door, but as he turned it in the lock, it snapped in half. The door has never been used since. The Bodleian libraries recently underwent a major restoration and renovation on the library; it was reopened as the Weston Library in 2015. The name change was in honour of the £25 million donation given towards the £40m costs by the Garfield Weston Foundation. In all, the rebuild took 3 years.
