Harvard University Library

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Harvard University Library
Country United States
Established 1638[1]
Location Cambridge, Massachusetts
Branches 73
Collection
Size 16.6M (2009)[2]
Other information
Budget US$160M (2010)[3]
Director Helen Shenton[4]
Staff 122 FTEs[5]
Website hul.harvard.edu
Reading room
in the Harvard Law School Library

The Harvard University Library system comprises about 90 libraries, with more than 16 million volumes. It is the oldest library system in the United States, the largest academic and the largest private library system in the world.[6][7] Based on the number of volumes in the collection, it is the third largest library collection in the US, after the Library of Congress, and Boston Public Library.[8]

While the largest and best-known library building at Harvard is the Widener Library in Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, this iconic building belongs to the Harvard College Library, the name of the library administrative unit within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

The Harvard University Library is the formal name for an administrative entity within the central administration of the University that has responsibility for central library services and policy.[9] As of December 20, 2010 (2010-12-20), Helen Shenton is the current executive director.[10] The Harvard University Library has a number of subordinate offices. Some of these are listed below.

  • The Office for Information Systems develops and supports online library services including digital repository and cataloging systems.
  • The Weissman Preservation Center manages projects for preserving Harvard's collections.
  • The Harvard Depository is a storage facility for library materials.
  • The Harvard University Archives is the institutional archives of the University. It oversees the University's permanent records, collects Harvard-related manuscripts, papers, and historical materials, and supervises records management across the University.
  • The Office for Scholarly Communication provides for open access to works of scholarship produced by the Harvard community.

Contents

History[edit]

Harvard's library system grew from a bequest in 1638 by John Harvard of 400 books.

Over the next century the library grew to become the largest in America, but in 1764 a major fire destroyed almost all of Harvard's books and scientific instruments. Books and donations were offered by friends of the college to replace its collections. An eccentric Englishman, Thomas Hollis V of Lincoln's Inn, London, (great-nephew of one of the University's early benefactors), began shipping thousands of specially chosen volumes to the University Library. Hollis continued to send books regularly until his death in 1774 and he also bequeathed £500 for a fund to continue buying books. This became Harvard's first endowed book fund, and is still actively increasing the collections every year. HOLLIS, the bacronym for Harvard Library's online catalog, "Harvard On-Line Library Information System", is named after him.

Some of the books have been digitized within the Google Books Library Project.[11] which was begun as a project developed with leadership and oversight by former Director Sidney Verba.

Libraries in the Harvard University System[edit]

This list covers the Harvard College libraries, the Faculty of Arts and Science libraries, and the libraries of other Harvard faculties. In addition, Harvard University has a large number of special libraries, house libraries, and affiliated libraries.

Buildings of the Harvard College Library
Special and Departmental libraries in the Harvard College Library
Libraries of other Harvard faculties

Librarians[edit]

17th century
18th century
  • Anthony Stoddard, 1701-1702[12]
  • Josiah Willard, 1702-1703[12]
  • John Whiting, 1703-1706[12]
  • John Gore, 1706-1707[12]
  • Nathaniel Gookin, 1707-1709[12]
  • Edward Holyoke, 1709-1712[12]
  • Thomas Robie, 1712-1713[12]
  • John Denison, 1713-1714[12]
  • John Rogers, 1714-1718[12]
  • William Welsteed, 1718-1720[12]
  • William Cooke, 1720-1721[12]
  • Joshua Gee, 1721-1722[12]
  • Mitchell Sewall, 1722-1723[12]
  • John Hancock, 1723-1726[12]
  • Stephen Sewall, 1726-1728[12]
  • Joseph Champney, 1728-1729[12]
  • Joseph Pynchon, 1729-1730[12]
  • Henry Gibbs, 1730-1734[12]
  • Samuel Coolidge, 1734-1735[12]
  • James Diman, 1735-1737[12]
  • Samuel Cooke, 1737[12]
  • Thomas Marsh, 1737-1741[12]
  • Belcher Hancock, 1741-1742[12]
  • Benjamin Prat, 1742-1743[12]
  • Matthew Cushing, 1743-1748[12]
  • Oliver Peabody, 1748-1750[12]
  • Stephen Badger, 1751-1753[12]
  • John Rand, 1753-1755[12]
  • Mather Byles, 1755-1757[12]
  • Elizur Holyoke, 1757-1758[12]
  • Edward Brooks, 1758-1760[12]
  • Samuel Deane, 1760-1762[12]
  • Stephen Sewall, 1762-1763[12]
  • Andrew Eliot, 1763-1767[12]
  • Jonathan Moore, 1767-1768[12]
19th century

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Harvard Library (Feb 14, 2011). "About the Harvard Library". Harvard Library. Harvard University. Retrieved January 16, 2013. 
  2. ^ Harvard University (2009). "Report of the Task Force on University Libraries" (pdf). Report of the Task Force on University Libraries. Harvard University. p. 42. Retrieved May 3, 2012. 
  3. ^ Harvard University (2010). "Functional classification of operating expenses". Harvard University Financial Report Fiscal Year 2010 (pdf). Harvard University. p. 45. 
  4. ^ "Library Board names executive director". Harvard Gazette. Retrieved 23 December 2012. 
  5. ^ Office of Institutional Research (2010). "Harvard University Fact Book" (pdf). Harvard University. p. 21. Retrieved July 29, 2011. 
  6. ^ Pezzi, Bryan (2000). Massachusetts. Weigl Publishers. p. 15. ISBN 1-930954-35-2. 
  7. ^ Karl, Thomas (1998). Toward an Earth Science Enterprise Federation: Results from a Workshop. National Academies Press. p. 27. ISBN 0-309-06134-2. 
  8. ^ American Library Association, "ALA Library Fact Sheet 22 – The Nation's Largest Libraries: A Listing by Volumes Held". October 2012.
  9. ^ Harvard University Library
  10. ^ Harvard Gazette (Dec 20, 2010). "Library Board names executive director". Harvard Gazette. Harvard University. Retrieved Jul 29, 2011. 
  11. ^ Harvard Google Project
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh Alfred Claghorn Potter, Charles Knowles Bolton (1897), The Librarians of Harvard College 1667-1877, Cambridge, Mass: Library of Harvard University 

Further reading[edit]

  • "History of the Library." In The Library of Harvard University: Descriptive and Historical Notes, 4th ed., 12-35. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1934.
  • Carpenter, Kenneth E. The First 350 Years of the Harvard University Library: Description of an Exhibition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986.
  • Bond, W. H. and Hugh Amory, eds. The Printed Catalogues of the Harvard College Library, 1723-1790. Boston: The Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1996.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Harvard University Library

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