IT and Culture: Bodleian Treasures now available on mobile

The Bodleian Libraries (the University of Oxford) have launched a mobile app featuring a selection of the rarest, most important and most evocative objects from the Bodleian collections: from ancient papyri through medieval oriental manuscripts to twentieth-century printed books and ephemera. The app supports the Autumn 2011 exhibition, “Treasures of the Bodleian” - on show until 23 December.

Users can explore in high resolution through themes including the classical heritage; maps and boundaries; the sacred word; the animal and plant kingdoms; literature and music; the sciences of observation and calculation; and moments in history.

Treasures, in high resolution, include:

- hand-written drafts from literary greats such as Mary Shelley, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Wilfred Owen and Jane Austen;

- documents capturing key moments in history from Magna Carta to the campaign for women’s suffrage;

- manuscripts of religious significance including an early Qur’an, the Gutenberg Bible, the Kennicott Bible and Buddhist canonical texts;

- key works from some of greatest names in scientific history including Hooke’s “Micrographia” and Isaac Newton’s “Principia”;

- a detailed glimpse of the natural world through the stunning illustrations in “Flora Graeca” and Audubon’s “Birds of America”.

Highlights of the application include concise commentary from the curator of the exhibition and short video talks on a selection of objects by experts from around the University of Oxford; podcasts of music and readings from a number of manuscripts in both the original language and English; access to a number of additional treasures that are not on display in the exhibition room.

“Treasures of the Bodleian” also asks the question “what is a treasure in the twenty-first century?” and encourages users of the app to join in the debate and to help the Bodleian to plan for the opening of a new exhibition gallery in the Weston Library in 2015.

“Treasures of the Bodleian” is the second in a series of apps from the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford. The Treasures of the Bodleian app can be downloaded for free from the website.