Biography

The first home of the University Library was at the buildings now known as the 'Old Schools', developed during the fifteenth century. In its early years the Library was under the superintendence of the University Chaplain; the first Librarian was appointed in 1577 and the first regulations for the Library's administration were drawn up five years later. Until the bequest of Tobias Rustat in 1666 the Library had no income for purchasing books, relying instead on gifts and bequests. The Library was granted the right to claim a copy of every work published in the United Kingdom by the Licensing Acts of 1662-1679 and 1685-1695, and by the Copyright Act of 1709 and successive Acts, although this privilege was not fully exploited until the nineteenth century. The Library moved to the present building, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, in 1934.

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