A well-kept secret in Oxford is that undergrads can apply for access to the All Souls library, that is, the library of the college that has no students and is just a bunch of humanities researchers and a few lawyers living off their massive endowment. I got a library card today; you just need a tutor’s signature.

It’s a great place because it’s so quiet, but also cool because it feels like a secret society. The door is hidden away in a little alcove, an alcove usually filled with tourists taking pictures of the All Souls quad, and then there is this mysterious library door that’s locked. You need a code to get in, which to me is far cooler than having someone there stopping tourists but searching reader’s bags like you have at the Old Bod and Rad Cam. It’s an unmanned portal. And it doesn’t lead straight to the library, which is reached by passing through a corridor and then a room, all in absolute silence, which is fun. Toilets are located underground in uneven tunnels.

Here are some photos, courtesy of Beth Hoffman (BY-NC-SA).

The time on this post is inaccurate.