Libraries

The Harvard library system is the oldest in the United States and the largest academic library in the world. A Harvard ID grants you access to the entire system. Books, manuscripts, microforms, maps, slides, photographs, and other materials are housed in more than 90 individual collections.

The Harvard University Library (HUL) is the administrative body for the Harvard Library system. In a traditionally decentralized system, HUL offers those services that can best be provided centrally, such as the online library catalog (HOLLIS), offsite storage, preservation services, and University Archives. Other operations such as collection development, circulation services, and reference services are administered locally by separate libraries. Each library also establishes its own loan periods, fines and hours. The Harvard College Library (HCL), the main component of the University Library, consists of the 11 major units of FAS, including the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library.

Widener, the main research library in the humanities and social sciences, contains some three million volumes in history, economics, language, literature, psychology, philosophy, and related fields. Other College libraries include Lamont, Hilles, Cabot (Science), and the following specialized libraries: Houghton (Rare Books and Manuscripts), Fine Arts, Harvard-Yenching (East Asian), Kummel (Geological Sciences), Littauer (Government), Eda Kuhn Loeb (Music) and Tozzer (Anthropology).

HOLLIS catalog (formerly "Hollis") is the Harvard On-Line Library Information System, the electronic library catalog, available from terminals within the libraries or by telnet at hollis.harvard.edu. Spend some time learning to use HOLLIS to take full advantage of its features, such as limiting searches by language, library or year. Many libraries have circulation information online so it is often possible to determine the status of a book before heading off to the library.

HOLLIS (formerly "HOLLIS Plus") is a web-based collection of online databases and links to other sites. It runs the gamut from Medline to The Boston Globe to the OED, and is organized by subject and name. HOLLIS Plus can be accessed from library workstations.

Watch out for the fine policies, which depend on the library and your Harvard status. Officers often pay less than students, but some libraries enforce expensive, inflexible fines. And you cannot necessarily count on getting overdue notices-especially before you incur hefty fines. Also note that loan periods differ significantly from library to library. Some libraries give a discount for paying fines at the time the book is returned; at the Kennedy Library you can save 50% this way.

All GSAS students can get access and borrowing privileges at MIT's libraries. Bring your Harvard ID to the Library Privileges Desk in Widener Library, where you will get an authorization form to take to MIT.

The Boston Public Library on Boylston Street at Copley Plaza is one of the country's great public libraries with over six million volumes. And just steps east of Harvard Yard, on Broadway, the Cambridge Public Library has its main branch, with better fiction and children's collections than any of the Harvard libraries. Massachusetts residents with picture ID and proof of local address are eligible for a Boston Public Library Card; Cambridge residents (including dorm rats) can get a Cambridge Public Library Card with two pieces of identification showing name and local address.

The Widener Stacks are undergoing major renovation to provide climate control, fire detection, and suppression systems, and other improvements. Widener will be open, but access will be modified as sections of the stacks are renovated. To keep track of what areas are being renovated and where books from those sections have been temporarily moved, check out the web site (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~planning/widener), which will be updated weekly to show work progression and schedules.