When Todd responded to the enquiries of the Royal Commission in 1852 he was able to show that the Library was generally well run and, though not heavily used, could meet the needs of its readers. The same could not be reported a century later by Herbert Parke, Smyly's successor as the College Librarian. (See Figure 24.)

In 1950, the Library officially occupied two buildings: the 1937 Reading Room and what was to become known as the Old Library. Books stored in the latter were transferred to the Reading Room for readers’ use by means of a conveyor belt through a tunnel from the West Pavilion. The annual number of reader visits was about 73,000, a figure that was showing a steady increase each year and was almost three times that in 1912 when the size of the Reading Room had been determined. As a result, the room was overcrowded, even though seats for an additional 32 readers had been added in 1949 after complaints from the students. It was open from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. on Mondays to Fridays, except during July and August when it closed at 6 p.m., and on Saturdays throughout the year from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. Because of the pressure on space, some first-year undergraduates were given ‘restricted admission’, which meant that they could use the Reading Room only after 6 p.m. and in the vacation. The Catacombs in the basement were used for storage, but the area was prone to damp.