Harvard University Library

Infobox_Library
library_name = Harvard University Library
library_logo =
established = 1638
num_branches = 90
collection_size = 15.8 million volumes
annual_circulation =
pop_served =
budget =
director =
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website = [http://hul.harvard.edu/ hul.harvard.edu]

The Harvard University Library system comprises about 90 libraries, with more than 15 million volumes. It is the oldest library system in the United States and the largest academic library system in the world.Fact|date=July 2008

It is the fifth largest library collection in the world, after the Library of Congress, British Library, the French Bibliothèque nationale and the New York Public Library.

Its largest and best-known library is the Widener Library in Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its administrative offices are located in Wadsworth House. The Office for Information Systems develops and supports online library services, and the Weissman Preservation Center manages projects for preserving Harvard's collections. Robert Darnton currently serves as the director of the library system. [ [http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6446458.html Princeton's Robert Darnton To Succeed Verba as Harvard Library Director] , Andrew Albanese, "Library Journal", 25 May 2007.]

History

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 acronym for Harvard Library's online catalog, "Harvard On-Line Library Information System", is named after him.

Some of the funds have been digitized within the Google Books Library Project [http://hul.harvard.edu/hgproject/index.html Harvard Google Project] .] .

Libraries in the Harvard University System

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.

* Harvard College libraries
** Cabot Science Library
** Fine Arts Library
** H. C. Fung Library
** Harvard-Yenching Library
** Houghton Library
** Lamont Library
** Littauer Library
** Loeb Music Library
** Pusey Library
** Quad Library
** Tozzer Library
** Widener Memorial Library

* Faculty of Arts and Science libraries
** Biochemical Sciences Tutorial Library
** Biological Laboratories Library
** Birkhoff Mathematical Library
** Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory Library
** Chemistry and Chemical Biology Library
** Child Memorial Library
** History Departmental Library
** History of Science Library
** Linguistics Library
** McKay Library of Engineering and Applied Sciences
** Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Library
** Paleography Library
** Peabody Museum Archives
** Physics Research Library
** Raines Library in African American Studies
** Robbins Library of Philosophy
** Robinson Celtic Seminar Library
** Sanskrit Library
** Smyth Classical Library
** Social Relations / Sociology Library
** Statistics Library

* Libraries of other Harvard faculties
** Andover-Harvard Theological Library
** Baker Library
** Countway Library of Medicine
** New England Primate Research Center Library
** Gutman Library
** Harvard Law School Library
** John F. Kennedy School of Government Library
** Frances Loeb Library
** Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America

See also

* Google Books Library Project

References

External links

* [http://hul.harvard.edu/ Official website]
* [http://lib.harvard.edu/catalogs/hollis.html HOLLIS catalog]
* [http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~lcr/archive/bookplates/22_3_HollisHarvard.htm Journal of Library History, vol. 22, no. 3 (Summer 1987): 338-341.]