With collections that range from ancient papyri to e-journals that publish the latest scientific findings, navigating Harvard’s libraries can be daunting for even the most experienced researcher. But you’re not alone. Harvard’s librarians — experts in subject areas ranging from African and African American studies to systems biology — stand ready to help you locate and access materials critical to your research.
“There are two resources that continue to stun me every time I walk into the library,” says Chris Barrett, a fifth-year graduate student in English. “One is the breadth of the collection, which is just staggering. The other is the expertise and generosity of the staff. The librarians have saved me so many times; I don’t know what I would do without them.”
Barrett has completed two chapters of her dissertation, on the intersection of maps and literature in the late 16th-and throughout the 17th-centuries, so the bulk of her work is concentrated in Widener and the Harvard Map Collection, along with some work in Houghton.
“When I began work on my dissertation, I needed to develop my literacy when it came to working with visual materials like maps, and I had no idea where to go,” Barrett says. “So I talked with (Services for Academic Programs Head) Laura Farwell Blake, and she instantly put me in touch with Map Collection Curator Joseph Garver and librarians at the Fine Arts Library who were able to get me started. I wouldn’t be able to write my dissertation without the help I received from the libraries.
“The amazing thing that Harvard’s librarians do is to pull together all these incredible resources, and make them available to us, as students and scholars,” Barrett continues. “I could browse a list of e-resources and find something that could be of use, but it’s a very different proposition to have someone say, ‘If you’re interested in this project, here are the three resources that you should start with, and then look at these others to follow-up. That’s incredibly valuable for anyone conducting research.”
Laura Connor, a third-year student in romance languages and literature, says librarians have been crucial in helping her build a preliminary bibliography for her dissertation, which will focus on the interaction between the realist novel and realist painting in 19th- and early 20th-century Spanish literature, and in keeping her informed about the most up-to-date resources in the libraries.
For fourth-year English student Maggie Gram, completing her dissertation—on the impact of the civil rights movement on American literature—would be all but impossible were it not for the wealth of historical materials available through Harvard’s libraries, and others readily available through Interlibrary Loan (ILL).
“This is very much a historicist project,” Gram says. “It’s about how a set of historical transformations were attended by a set of cultural transformations, and that’s the kind of research you can’t do unless you have access to historical records and cultural materials—not just items that are canonical, but everything that’s out there, and that’s the sort of access you have as a student at Harvard.”
As an example of the types of materials she is able to access, Gram points to The War Worker, a weekly newspaper published by African Americans in 1940s Los Angeles. Though she initially requested a single article, through ILL, she was able to access a complete archive of the newspaper, giving her far greater insight than she might have otherwise gotten.
“Like many undergrads, I spent most of my time in the library eating potato chips, talking to my friends, and doing my math homework,” said the Columbia graduate. “I didn’t have a very good sense of what the libraries could do for me. When I arrived at Harvard, however, I very quickly saw how important the library would be in my research, and how Harvard librarians could assist me.”
To complete his research, examining experimental and applied psychology of the late 19th- and early-20th centuries through the lens of former Harvard faculty member Hugo Münsterberg, third-year history of science student Jeremy Blatter must comb through archives spread throughout Harvard’s libraries, including Widener, Houghton, Radcliffe, and even the Harvard Film Archive.
Were it not for the assistance offered by Science Reference and Cartographic Librarian Reed Lowrie, Blatter says he might have overlooked sources and collections that have proven valuable.
“The resources related to Münsterberg are somewhat tricky, so being able to go to librarians for assistance is very helpful,” Blatter says. “I probably would not have thought to go to Radcliffe, where he lectured until his death, if Reed Lowrie had not helped me uncover several archival collections held at Schlesinger Library.
“I’ve gotten some amazing assistance from librarians at Harvard. Having someone who can help to guide you through the wealth of material and resources here, and show you what the best tools are—they’re incredibly helpful.”
Story credit: Peter Reuell, Harvard College Library