STAFF at Oxford’s Bodleian Library have opened up their treasures to the public by gathering more than 115,000 images of books, manuscripts, maps and artwork and featuring them online.

Until now, only those with reader’s cards have been able to access the Oxford University library off Broad Street.

Following a major digitisation programme, members of the public can see thousands of digital versions of what has been donated to the library over centuries.

This includes maps, Victorian board games and Conservative Party election posters.

At digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk, launched last week, visitors can look at the images, find out more about the library’s historic collections and download images to share on social media.

The new resource is designed to be used by schools and colleges and all digital images are available for classroom presentations.

Highlights include images of the medieval Gough map, thought to be the earliest map of the UK, hundreds of board games and other 18th and 19th century children’s games, and Victorian handbills, postcards and posters from the John Johnson collection of printed ephemera.

Lucie Burgess, associate director for digital libraries, said: “Digital.Bodleian will bring together the riches of the digitisation programme over the past 20 years and allow people to discover our unique collections through a single, innovative, interface.

“It’s a dynamic project so the site will continue to grow, as we add 1.5m images from previous digitisation projects and from digital projects going forward.”

Until the launch of the new website, digitised images of the Bodleian’s collections were not so easy to access because they were made available to the public through separate websites, databases and image galleries.

Now, the different elements have been united on a single website.

Bodley’s Librarian Richard Ovenden said: “Digital.Bodleian is one of the many initiatives to support the digital shift taking place at the library.

“It should enable further scholarship using our collections but also presents an opportunity for the public to explore and discover our outstanding collections.”

This is the latest move to make the library and its contents more accessible to the public.

In March, the Weston Library opened in Broad Street following a three-year revamp of the Grade II-listed building.

Last month, members of the public were shown copies on the Magna Carta.

There are only 13 copies in existence in the world and four of them are kept at the Bodleian.