Widener Library

Departments in Widener

HCL Administration

Administrative offices of the Harvard College Library—the major libraries that support the Faculty of Arts and Sciences—are located in Widener Library. The HCL Administration includes the Roy E. Larsen Librarian for Harvard College, the Associate Librarian for Research, Teaching, and Learning; Associate Librarian for Preservation, Digitization, and Administrative Services; Associate Librarian for Collection Development; and the Associate Librarian of Harvard College for Collection Management. In addition to their organization-wide responsibilities, the HCL Administration also oversees and coordinates the departmental activities of Widener Library, including Access Services, Collection Development, Research Services, and HCL Technical Services.

HCL Administrative Services offices are housed in Widener and include Communications, Financial Services, Human Resource Services, Information Technology Services, and Operations.

Divisions of Preservation & Imaging (Conservation, Imaging Services) and the Development office are also housed in Widener.

Return to Top

Access Services

Widener Library, Room G-30
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
Tel: 617-384-5003

Access Services actively supports the teaching and research mission of the Harvard College Library by managing programs, projects, and services dedicated to providing access to the Widener Collections, housed in the Widener and Pusey libraries and the Harvard Depository, to members of the Harvard University community and beyond.

The divisions of Access Services are organized by functional expertise.

Collection Management is responsible for the daily operations of Widener stacks including Periodicals stacks, Periodicals Reading Room, Newspaper Microfilm Reading Room, and the Materials Transfer, a division of Collection Management that handles Harvard Depository orders, Tracing, and quality control functions including management of Serials processing and centralized retrievals for Access Services workflows.

Reader Services is responsible for Library Billing & Privileges, Circulation, and the Phillips Reading Room.

Resource Sharing is responsible for Interlibrary Loan and the Scan & Deliver program.

Return to Top

Collection Development

Collection Development
Widener Library, Room 140, G-60
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
E-mail:: coldev@fas.harvard.edu
Fax: 617-496-8704

The Widener Library collections are focused on support for teaching and research in the social sciences and humanities. Collection Development is responsible for the selection of library materials in English, the languages of Western Europe, and the languages of Sub-Saharan Africa for the Widener collections.

Collection Development is organized into the following divisions: American and English (currently includes East, South and Southeast Asia); Western European; Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese; Modern Greek; and Sub-Saharan African. Each area is overseen by a librarian who selects materials for purchase and guides the acquisition process with the assistance of a staff of bibliographic assistants who are part of Harvard College Library Technical Services.

Return to Top

Judaica Division

Judaica Division
Widener Library, Room M
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617-495-2985, 617-495-5335
Fax: 617-495-0403

The Judaica Division of the Harvard College Library has as its mission the documentation of the Jewish people throughout history in order to support teaching and research at Harvard and to serve as a resource for the scholarly community. The division is responsible for acquiring, cataloging, and providing reference and other public services for materials in Hebrew, Yiddish, and other languages, dealing with all aspects of Jewish culture. It maintains the largest collection of Israeli and Israel-related materials outside of the State of Israel.

The Judaica Division strives to make meaningful contributions to the research library community, particularly through sharing Harvard's electronic bibliographic data and by fostering cooperative projects with other institutions.

Return to Top

Middle Eastern Division

Middle Eastern Division
Widener Library, Room S
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617-495-2437

The Middle Eastern Collection of the Harvard College Library has as its mission the documentation of the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Caucasus throughout history in order to support the teaching and research at Harvard and to serve as a resource for the scholarly community. The division is responsible for the acquisition, cataloging, and public services of materials from what is broadly referred to as the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Caucasus and from related émigré communities. This includes resources from over 40 countries and in some 60 languages.

Return to Top

Slavic Division

Slavic Division
Widener Library, Room R
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617-495-2458
Fax: 617-496-2902

The Slavic Collection of the Harvard College Library has as its mission the documentation of the Slavic and Baltic countries throughout history in order to support teaching and research at Harvard and to serve as a resource for the scholarly community. The division acquires, catalogs, and provides public services for material from Russia, the former Soviet republics, and Eastern Europe, in all Slavic, Baltic, and Western languages, and publications in Slavic languages outside these geographic areas.

Return to Top