Stanford Libraries | |
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37°25′37″N122°10′10″W / 37.4268182°N 122.1693287°W | |
Location | Stanford, CA |
Type | Academic library system of Stanford University |
Established | 1891 |
Branches | 24 |
Collection | |
Items collected | more than 12 million items, including 3 million ebooks, 260,000 rare or special books, 1.5 million audiovisual materials, 75,000 serials, 6 million microforms |
Size | more than 12 million (2020) |
Other information | |
Website | library |
The Stanford University Libraries (SUL), formerly known as "Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources" ("SULAIR"), is the library system of Stanford University in California. It encompasses more than 24 libraries in all. Several academic departments and some residences also have their own libraries.
The main library in the SU library system is Green Library, which also contains various meeting and conference rooms, study spaces, and reading rooms.
Lathrop Library is a 24-hour library which holds various student-accessible media resources, particularly those intended for undergraduates. It also houses one of the world's largest East Asia collections.
The Hoover Institution Library and Archives is an archive and research center largely focused on documents of 20th century history. The Hoover Institution Library and Archives (not to be confused with the Hoover Institution think tank) is a part of SUL but has its own board of overseers. [1]
The earliest library at Stanford was in the northeast corner of the inner quadrangle. It was housed in one large room capable of accommodating 100 readers. This was replaced in 1900 by a separate building on the outer quadrangle, named the Thomas Welton Stanford Library after its major donor, Leland Stanford's younger brother. This library was soon recognized as being too small, and a new larger library in a separate building was begun; however, it was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake before it could be completed. [2]
A major new library was approved in 1913 and completed in 1919. [2] This building forms the older portion of the current Green Library. In 1980, a larger annex was added and the library was renamed for Cecil Howard Green. The original part of the building is now known as the Bing Wing for Peter Bing, who donated a substantial amount of money for fixing it after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
In early years the acquisition of books and other materials for the libraries was dependent on donations and on the often limited general fund budget. But in 1905 Jane Stanford directed that after her death, her jewels should be sold and the funds used as a permanent endowment "to be used exclusively for the purchase of books and other publications." [3] The board of trustees confirmed this arrangement, and the Jewel Fund was established in 1908. [2] It has been augmenting the university's library collections for more than 100 years. [4] The endowment, originally $500,000, is now worth about $20 million. [4] Items purchased through the Jewel Fund display a distinctive bookplate which shows a romanticized Jane Stanford offering her jewels to Athena, the goddess of wisdom. [5] Since 2007, benefactors who provide endowments for library acquisitions are referred to as members of the Jewel Society. [6]
In 1908 Stanford acquired the Cooper Medical College in San Francisco, together with the 30,000 volume collection of the Levi C. Lane Medical Library Trust, as well as a building site and funds provided in Dr. Lane's will. The Lane Medical Library was dedicated on November 3, 1912; it was an integral part of the Stanford library system despite being located in San Francisco. [2] It was moved to the main Stanford campus along with the medical school in 1959.
Herbert Hoover, who later became President of the United States, was involved in humanitarian and relief efforts in Europe before, during and after World War I. This gave him the opportunity to amass a collection of documents relating to the war, the Russian Revolution, and other historical developments of the early 20th century. Starting in 1919 he donated the collected materials to Stanford, his alma mater, along with funds to maintain and develop the documents, called the Hoover War Collection and later the Hoover War Library. The documents were initially housed within the main Stanford Library, but by 1929 the collection had reached 1.4 million items and storage was becoming a problem. In 1941 Hoover Tower was completed as a repository for the growing collection, which was eventually renamed the Hoover Institution and Library on War, Revolution and Peace. [7]
The J. Henry Meyer Memorial Library, or Undergraduate Library, was dedicated in 1966 and closed in 2014. It was named for J. Henry Meyer, a San Francisco businessman and early supporter of Stanford, whose children were major donors toward its construction. It was replaced in 2014 by the Lathrop Library.
In the 1980s it was proposed to establish the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library at Stanford. His records from eight years as governor of California were already on campus, in the Hoover Institution library. After extensive negotiation with Reagan's advisors, the Board of Trustees in 1984 approved the placement of the Reagan library and museum on the campus. [8] A 20-acre site near the Stanford golf course was earmarked for the facility. [9] However, the proposal foundered over the plan by Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation officials to include a public affairs research center and think tank as part of the facility, which Stanford's trustees said would be unacceptable, and the idea was dropped in 1987. [10] The Reagan library, complete with public affairs center, was built in Simi Valley, California, opening in 1991. The records of his governorship were transferred there from Hoover in 2000. [11]
The libraries hold a collection of nearly 12 million items, 260,000 rare or special books, 3 million e-books, 1.5 million audiovisual materials, 75,000 serials, 6 million microform holdings, and thousands of other digital resources, making it one of the largest and most diverse academic library systems in the world. [12] Starting in 2004 the Stanford libraries have collaborated with Google in digitizing hundreds of thousands of books from the Stanford collections and making them available to readers worldwide at no charge. [13] [14]
Other significant collections include the Lane Medical Library, Terman Engineering Library, Jackson Business Library, Falconer Biology Library, Cubberley Education Library, Branner Earth Sciences Library, Swain Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Library, Jonsson Government Documents collection (SUL has been a Federal Depository Library since 1895, a California depository and depository for several Intergovernmental Organizations like the IMO, World Bank, EU, OECD etc.), Crown Law Library, Center for Ocean Solutions Research Library, Stanford Auxiliary Library (SAL), SLAC Library, Hoover library, Miller Marine Biology Library at Hopkins Marine Station, Music Library, and the university's special collections.
Stanford University has also developed a significant African collection, which includes the Maps of Africa Collection. This collection became recognized in 2001 with the acquisition of the Oscar I Norwich collection and subsequent acquisitions in 2010 and 2011. Today the Maps of Africa collection includes 859 maps.
Digital libraries and text services include digital image collections, the Humanities Digital Information Services group, and the Media Microtext Center. The Stanford University Press produces over 175 books each year. [12]
There are 150,000 computers on the Stanford University Network, including clusters of printer-enabled computers in every undergraduate residence (the first residential computing program), as well as high-performance computer clusters for general use throughout the campus. [12] Stanford is a founding and charter member of CENIC, the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California, the nonprofit organization that provides extremely high-performance Internet-based networking to California's K-20 research and education community.
Stanford University is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford, the eighth governor of and then-incumbent senator from California, and his wife, Jane, in memory of their only child, Leland Jr.
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It conducts research and teaching in medical and biological sciences.
The Hoover Institution is an American public policy think tank which promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and limited government. While the institution is formally a unit of Stanford University, it maintains an independent board of overseers and relies on its own income and donations. It is widely described as conservative, although its directors have contested the idea that it is partisan.
Jane Elizabeth Lathrop Stanford was an American philanthropist and co-founder of Stanford University in 1885, along with her husband, Leland Stanford, in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford Jr., who died of typhoid fever at age 15 in 1884. After her husband's death in 1893, she funded and operated the university almost single-handedly until her unsolved murder by strychnine poisoning in 1905.
The Cecil H. Green Library is the main library on the Stanford University campus and is part of the SUL system. It is named for Cecil H. Green.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is the presidential library and burial site of Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States (1981–1989), and his wife Nancy Reagan. Located in Simi Valley, California, the library is administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
The University of California operates the largest academic library system in the world. It manages more than 40.8 million print volumes in 100 libraries on ten campuses. The purpose of these libraries is to assist research and instruction on the University of California campuses. While each campus library is separate, they share facilities for storage, computerized indexing, digital libraries and management.
Washington University Libraries is the library system of Washington University in St. Louis. The Washington University Libraries are a powerful network of academic resources featuring 9 University Libraries ; vast print and electronic collections; and expert librarians whose priority is helping students and faculty find the information they need. The John M. Olin Library is the central library.
The library system of the University of California, Los Angeles, is one of the largest academic research libraries in North America, with a collection of over twelve million books and 100,000 serials. The UCLA Library System is spread over 12 libraries, 12 other archives, reading rooms, research centers and the Southern Regional Library Facility, which serves as a remote storage facility for southern UC campuses. It is among the ten largest academic research library systems in the United States, and its annual budget allocates $10 million for the procurement of digital and print material. It is a Federal Depository Library, California State Depository Library, and United Nations Depository Library.
The J. Henry Meyer Memorial Library was a library at Stanford University in California. It was dedicated on December 2, 1966. In 2007, a seismic assessment identified $45 million in required retrofits, more than the cost of a new library elsewhere on campus. Consequently, the library was designated for closure and a new design was accepted featuring a public open space area at the site. The library closed permanently on August 22, 2014, and was demolished during the months of February and March, 2015.
The Fresno State Library is the name of an academic library in Fresno, California. It serves as the main resource for recorded knowledge and information supporting the teaching, research, and service functions of the California State University, Fresno.
Malcolm A. Love Library is an academic library at San Diego State University (SDSU). The library first opened in 1971. It is named after former university president Malcolm A. Love.
David Gilbert Booth is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Dimensional Fund Advisors, which he co-founded with Rex Sinquefield.
Stanford Medicine traces its history back to 1858 when Elias Samuel Cooper, a physician in San Francisco, California, founded the first medical school in the Western United States. That school went through many changes, including a change of name to Cooper Medical College, a takeover by Stanford University in 1908, and a move from San Francisco to the Stanford campus near Palo Alto, California in 1959.
Laurence William Lane Jr. was an American magazine publisher, diplomat, and philanthropist.
The Hoover Institution Library and Archives is a research center and archival repository located at Stanford University, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. Built around a collection amassed by Stanford graduate Herbert Hoover prior to his becoming President of the United States, the Hoover Library and Archives is largely dedicated to the world history of the 20th and 21st centuries. It includes one of the largest collections of political posters in the world.
The University of Minnesota Libraries is the library system of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, operating at 12 facilities in and around Minneapolis–Saint Paul. It has over 8 million volumes and 119,000 serial titles that are collected, maintained and made accessible. The system is the 17th largest academic library in North America and the 22nd largest library in the United States. While the system's primary mission is to serve faculty, staff and students, because the university is a public institution of higher education its libraries are also open to the public.
Levi Cooper Lane was an American physician and surgeon. He established the Cooper Medical College, forerunner to the Stanford University School of Medicine, as well as laying the groundwork for Stanford's medical library and the Stanford School of Nursing. The university's medical library is still named Lane Medical Library in his honor.
Lane Medical Library is the library of the Stanford University School of Medicine at Stanford University, near Palo Alto, California. Its mission is to "accelerate scientific discovery, clinical care, medical education and humanities through teaching, collaboration, and delivery of biomedical and historical resources". It is located on campus adjacent to Stanford Hospital and Clinics. In addition to books, journals and documents for medical research and the teaching and practice of medicine, Lane Library houses a significant collection of material relating to the history of medicine. The library also provides specialized search capabilities, classes and tutorials, writing and grant support, and group and individual study spaces.
Stanford University was founded in the late 19th century by Leland and Jane Lathrop Stanford, in honor of their late son: Leland Stanford Jr. After Leland's death a lawsuit was pursued against his estate, and alongside the Panic of 1893 put Stanford's continued existence in jeopardy. The university persevered, in part due to the Stanford family donating the equivalent of over $1 billion in 2010 dollars to the university. The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake damaged several buildings, and took the lives of two people on campus.
stanford library.