Bodleian Law Library

There are four accessible parking spaces available: one in front of the building and three at the rear. Please bear in mind that three of these spaces are shared with the nearby Manor Road building. It is advisable to book a parking space in advance by contacting the Porters' Lodge on 01865 271 481 or st_cross_building_lodge@admin.ox.ac.uk

All parking in the St Cross Building car park is for University car park permit holders only.

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The Law Library entrance is on the second floor of the building and can be reached via the main external staircase – there is a central handrail all the way up. The accessible entrance is to the right of the external staircase – see the main St Cross Building page for further information. From the accessible entrance, follow the corridor round to the left and into the lobby area where you will see the main passenger lift in front of you. Take the lift to the second floor - this takes you to the café where there are 2 possible routes to the library. You can exit the café through the powered glass doors where there is a slight ramp onto an outdoor terraced area. You will see the entrance to the library across the terrace to the left – there is another slight ramp and a powered door which takes you back inside the building into a lobby area outside the library.

Alternatively, you can go through the seminar room next to the café (unless it is in use), then follow the corridor round to the right, go through a door and this will take you into the lobby area outside the library. Note that this requires using two non-powered doors.

From this lobby area, go through the automatic powered doors into the library. In front of you are access controlled gates which should be wide enough for most wheelchair users. If not there is a wider gate to the left. Visually impaired people should take care here as the gates are made of clear glass with no contrasting markings. Once through the gates you are in the main part of the library.

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The enquiry desk is just beyond the access gates at the main entrance to the library. The library desk has a long lowered section (although there is no knee space underneath) and a portable hearing loop in place. 

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Accessible toilets

There are no toilets within the library. There is an accessible toilet near the main entrance to the library. Exit the library to the lobby area, turn right just before the powered door to the outdoor terrace area, the toilet is straight ahead at the end of the corridor. Please see the main St Cross Building page for information on other accessible toilets. 

Standard toilets

There are no toilets within the library itself, however there are toilets on all floors of the St Cross Building apart from the third floor. The first floor has several gender neutral toilets. 

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There is a lift giving access to all floors of the library – go past the enquiry desk by the library entrance and the lift is on the right hand side. The lift is spacious, has tactile buttons, audio information and a hearing loop. Note that while students will be able to use the lift freely, there are also access controlled exits to staff only areas.

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The Library is arranged over four floors. There is a staircase between the floors with contrasting edges and a hand rail on the right hand side (ascending).

There are also small staircases arranged around the edge of the main reading room connecting the floors. These have a continuous hand rail on the right hand side (ascending) and contrasting edges. These stairs are rather narrow and some users may find them difficult to use.

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There are two powered doors leading into the library with full height vision panels.

Most areas of the library are open plan. There are several small rooms off the main spaces. Most of these have manual doors with full height vision panels apart from the Graduate Reading Room which only has a vision panel in the top half of the door. 

The doors leading to the main staircase between floors have full height vision panels apart from on the ground floor where there are only small vision panels.

The small doors to the study carrels do not have vision panels as they are quiet/private workspaces.

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The main reading room is all open plan, level access and spacious with plenty of seating and adequate spacing between shelving. Desks are fixed although chairs can be moved as needed. 

There are smaller study/reading areas on the ground, first and third floors which are also open plan and level access. Again, the desks are fixed although chairs can be moved as needed. Shelving is generally full height so will not be accessible for all 

On the ground floor there is a large area of rolling stacks; these are are effectively narrow one way corridors as the ends of the stacks are flush to the wall. There are also small ramps at the entrance to each of the stacks.

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The seminar room is on the second floor. There is level access to this room from the lift. There is a large round table and freestanding chairs which can be moved as needed. 

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There are various other rooms across the library. Staff at the enquiry desk will be happy to help if you need more information about any of these rooms.

Ground floor

There are 3 small discussion rooms, a small computer room, the Graduate Reading Room and the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer IT room. From the main reading room of the library the lift will take you to the ground floor where there is level access to all of these rooms.  

Second floor

There are two study carrels – one with a height adjustable desk and one with equipment to support people with visual impairments.

Third floor

There are several study carrels which can be used as quiet/private study areas. These are bookable, although there is often a waiting list. Please contact library staff for more information. 

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The cafe is on the second floor of the St Cross Building - the same level as the Law Library. 

As you exit the library onto the outdoor terrace, the cafe is across the terrace on the right hand side. There is an access ramp up to the powered doors into the cafe, but there is also a rather large lip at the door threshold so please take care when using these doors. 

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There is a portable hearing loop system in place at the main enquiry desk.

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The library can provide the following assistive equipment:

• A daylight reading lamp
• Acetate coloured sheets to lay over print
• Kurzweil and Zoomtext 
• Hand held and hands free magnifiers
• Book stands
• Laptop stands
• Study carrel on the second floor which has a computer with a high contrast keyboard and text to speech software

Please ask at the Issue Desk if you wish to use any of this equipment. 

There are also several height adjustable desks available for use throughout the library:

• Two in the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer IT Room on the ground floor
• One outside Discussion Room 1 on the ground floor (there is also an ergonomic chair here)
• Two in the main reading room (as well as an ergonomic chair)
• One in a quiet study carrel on the second floor
• Two on the third floor

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