Introduction to OLIS

What is OLIS?

OLIS is part of the library catalogues and services provided by the Bodleian Libraries. It contains records for over five million of the estimated ten million print titles held by libraries within the University of Oxford, and provides library management services to library staff.

Which libraries are represented on OLIS?

There are well over one hundred libraries associated with the University of Oxford. Roughly one hundred of these currently contribute to the OLIS catalogue. There is a full list of libraries which are members of OLIS and for information about the individual libraries you should consult the online library guides. The OLIS catalogue uses shortened forms of library names to give details of an item's location. We provide a key to location codes which links to the aforementioned library guides.

Please note that although records are being added to the catalogue all the time, for both newly acquired and older items, OLIS is not yet a comprehensive record of all the holdings of its member libraries. Some member libraries have only a small proportion of their holdings catalogued on OLIS.

How do I search OLIS?

The primary public search interface is SOLO: Search Oxford Libraries Online; OLIS can also be searched within Mobile Oxford and via Z39.50.

Additional features of OLIS

If you are a registered member of an OLIS library then you may be able to use SOLO to renew items that you have out on loan and to place reservations (also known as holds) for items. You will be able to log in to SOLO and access your individual record which lists any items you currently have on loan and any fines you owe, etc.