Second report to the Radcliffe Trustees, on the progress of the Radcliffe Library at the Oxford University Museum / by Henry W. Acland.

  • Acland, Henry W. (Henry Wentworth), 1815-1900.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Second report to the Radcliffe Trustees, on the progress of the Radcliffe Library at the Oxford University Museum / by Henry W. Acland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    means at my disposal will allow. Now all tlie information I have obtained convinces me, ist, That the Bodleian will not suffer if it keep up a large portion of its Scientific Periodicals in the Library at the Museum, which is distant about five hundred yards from the Bodleian ; and, 2ndly, that if the Scientific Literature be really not more convenient to those who need it near the Scientific Collections than in the Bodleian Library, then the Radclitfe Library need not be kept up at the Museum to even its present condition ; for to have two complete Scientific Libraries in Oxford, one at the Bodleian, one at the Museum, is certainly unnecessary; and if even the Bodleian and Radclitfe funds were inexhaustible, it would be a wasteful application of them respectively. Tt is admitted that £500 per annum will barely maintain the Scientific Library. If the Bodleian Curators be prepared to furnish that Library, they must devote that amount to this special purpose. If they do so, it cannot be expected that the Radclitfe Trustees will provide the same works in-duplicate at the Museum. The consequence will, it is to be feared, be a Library at the Museum every year less fit to meet the growing requirements of the period, and less worthy of the Founder and of the University. It has been suggested, as I have said, that, in truth, it will be more convenient to maintain the chief Oxford Library of Physical Science at the Bodleian rather than at the Museum. If this opinion be correct, then certainly the request of the Professors that the Bodleian Curators should lend, under conditions. Transactions and Periodicals is inopportune, and the removal of the Radclitfe Library from its old site not well advised. Should this opinion prevail, unfortunate as is the logical sequence, I fear the return of the Radclitfe Scientific Library to its old quarters in the immediate proximity of the Bodleian should be taken into consideration—that done, a fresh attempt at harmonious action between the Libraries might be contemplated. But this is not all; wherever the Scientific Library is, arrangements should be made at that place for the comparison of specimens of all kinds; and if the Bodleian Curators should decide on not availing themselves of the permission granted by the Statute of 1861, to cooperate with the Radclitfe Trustees for the purpose of securing a thorough Scientific Library at the Museum, it is to be hoped that they will either make proper arrangements for the comparison of objects with their books, in the Bodleian itself, or for the transfer of any of the Scientific books to the Museum, for comparison with the objects there collected.