Rad Cam
The Rad Cam is the Radcliffe Camera, the circular domed building in the middle of Radcliffe Square that serves as a reading room of the Bodleian Library. "Camera" here is the Latin word for a room or chamber, not a photographic one.
In practice
The building was paid for by the bequest of the physician John Radcliffe and designed by James Gibbs; it was completed in the middle of the eighteenth century as a library of its own, and later became part of the Bodleian. Its reading rooms hold mainly history, English and theology collections and are used by students and readers with a Bodleian card. Most visitors see only the outside, which is one of the most photographed views in Britain, and the interior on a guided tour.
Why it matters to newcomers
Radcliffe Square, around the Rad Cam, is the meeting point of the University's central buildings: the Bodleian, the University Church of St Mary the Virgin and several colleges. "Meet me by the Rad Cam" is an Oxford direction everyone understands. The square is pedestrian, cobbled and crowded at midday; early mornings are quieter.
Related
- The Bodleian - the library it belongs to
- Quad - the college courtyards around the square
- The High - the street a few steps south
Source: Bodleian Libraries.