Harvard university library

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The University Library consists of all the collections of books in the possession of the University. It originated in 1638 with books left to the college by John Harvard. The library system currently consists of over 100 separate facilities, ranging from very small specialized collections to Widener Library, with its 5 million volumes. Each of the faculties within the University maintains one or more libraries serving its special constituency. The largest unit is the Harvard College Library (including Widener) which consists of the libraries of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Through various organizational arrangements, an attempt has been made over the years to coordinate the operations of the many libraries in the University. At certain times, the director of the library has also been head of the College Library. In 1979, the office of the director of the University Library was distinctively separated from the duties of the College Library.

From the description of Records of the Harvard University Library, 1698- (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 76972778

From the description of Records of the Harvard University Library, 1698- (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 236231777

Metcalf was Director of Harvard University Library.

From the description of Correspondence with Franz Werfel, 1942. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 155863419

The first library catalogs at Harvard were in book form. In the 1870's, Harvard began to adopt a new technology for library catalogs, the card catalog. Harvard's On-line Integrated Library System (HOLLIS) began to replace the card catalogs in the 1980's. Following the establishment of HOLLIS, a project of retrospective conversion or "recon," created electronic bibliographic records from older catalog cards, and thus created a single, union catalog for all the libraries of Harvard University; retrospective conversion for cards using western alphabets was completed in 1998.

From the description of Catalog cards : samples of catalog cards from the libraries of Harvard University, ca. 1870?-ca. 1980. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 77065015

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Active 1982

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Active 1964

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