BLACKSBURG -- Let's say you're a scholar in desperate need of a rare manuscript stowed somewhere deep within Oxford University's noted Bodleian Library.

To read it, you may need to secure a recommendation, apply in person at the library in England and ask a librarian to comb closed stacks before finding it.

But what if that manuscript -- old, obscure, yet key to your thesis -- could be located online within seconds?

Well, with the help of a Blacksburg-based library automation and software development firm, it might soon be.

Oxford University announced recently that it would use three products from VTLS Inc. as the backbone technology for its virtual library.

The benefits, a delegation from Oxford said Monday, were all about access -- including readers' ability to pinpoint and request specific texts from libraries throughout the university and United Kingdom, and to view images of manuscripts and books that had been scanned and digitized.

Started as a spinoff corporation from Virginia Tech in 1985, VTLS provides integrated library automation, digital imaging services and radio frequency identification technology to libraries, museums and corporate research repositories throughout the world.

Today, more than 900 libraries in more than 35 countries use its products and services, including Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt and the Swiss National Library.

But Oxford, the oldest English-speaking university in the world and an internationally renowned center of learning and research, is arguably VTLS' most recognized and high-profile client. The university libraries' collection includes more than 8 million physical items.

VTLS Chief Executive Officer Vinod Chachra said he hopes work with Oxford, as well as a new office to be located at the university, will help market VTLS products in the United Kingdom.

The new office, Chachra added, will ultimately become the company's European headquarters.

"It's a known fact that Oxford is one of the most highly regarded, highly respected and well-known institutions in the world so we are proud to have this partnership," Chachra said, noting the university libraries' strong collections, long history and more than 400 years of collecting.

The VTLS-Oxford partnership was born of a lengthy and worldwide search.

Erin Raynor, library management system project manager for Oxford University Library Services, said more than 100 librarians from some of Oxford's approximately 100 libraries helped screen suppliers before eventually settling on VTLS.

VTLS was chosen, Raynor added, not only for its technology, but also for its flexibility in working with Oxford's unique and changing functions.

David Price, head of systems and electronic resources service with Oxford University Library Services, said this is the third time the institution has updated its integrated library system, an extensive process undertaken every eight to 10 years.

It is also the first time Oxford has used any of VTLS's services or products.

The university has also worked out a mass-digitization agreement with Google Inc. that is expected to lead initially to the digitization of more than 1 million printed books and their worldwide availability on the Internet.

Price said that at this point, the Google project is not directly related to what VTLS is doing, although the books digitized with Google will have their records included in VTLS' digital management system.

This week, a delegation from the university, including Raynor and Price, was in Blacksburg to discuss details of the new system, including an automated stack request system that tracks movement of books among Oxford libraries and a repository to house the digital collections at Oxford.

Before the systems go online at the end of August, Chachra said VTLS employees will transfer data from Oxford's old system to its new one, develop the automated stack request system and train librarians.

While much of the software development work and data conversion is being done in Blacksburg, implementation work, including training 700 librarians, will begin in Oxford in June or July.

A VTLS staffer is stationed in Oxford and Chachra said he hopes to have the new VTLS office open there in July. VTLS also has offices in Brazil, Canada, France, India, Malaysia, Spain and Switzerland.