A groundbreaking ceremony has been held to mark the start of construction work on a new book storage facility for the Bodleian Library on the outskirts of Swindon, Wiltshire.

Oxford University has acquired a 15-acre (6.1-hectare) site at South Marston for the high-density facility, which is expected to house eight million volumes of the library's low-demand items. The work forms part of a wider modernisation scheme at the New Bodleian Library in Oxford, which will undergo a refurbishment when the new facility is complete to provide a special collections library and exhibition galleries.

Dr Sarah Thomas, librarian and director at the Bodleian Library, said: "With a modern storage facility for its extensive collections under construction, the Bodleian is now entering an exciting phase of development of services. "The book storage facility will be the catalyst for improved management of its collections and the transformation of the New Bodleian into a special collections library and public galleries."

The New Bodleian will also be renamed as the Weston Library following the four-year refurbishment scheme after the university received a £25m donation from the Garfield Weston Foundation in March 2008.