Research Libraries
Although most public, national, and academic libraries in North America and Europe are open to qualified researchers, many require some kind of professional identification for admission and a few require advance application. Researchers planning to work in an unfamiliar library—especially in special collections or at a European institution—should inquire well in advance about admission procedures, restrictions on materials in special collections, and hours of operation.
Becoming familiar with a major research library can occupy the better part of a morning, but researchers can reduce this lost time by requesting in advance a copy of any locally produced guide (which usually prints maps and a stack guide) and consulting the library’s Web site and published descriptions of collections or catalogs. For example, one can save considerable time in the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress by recording call numbers in advance from the Library of Congress Online Catalog (E260); many libraries sponsor journals that print articles on their holdings and news of acquisitions; and most allow public access over the Internet to their electronic catalogs. Most library Web sites and commercial Web search engines provide links to library OPACs (online public-access catalogs) worldwide. For valuable advice on preparing to visit an unfamiliar library, see Thorpe, Use of Manuscripts in Literary Research (F275).
Major general research libraries in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain include the following:
Boston Public Library (http://www.bpl.org). British Library (http://www.bl.uk). See especially the Collections page (http://www.bl.uk/collections/listings.html) and Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections (E210), pp. 132–80. Electronic British Library Journal (http://www.bl.uk/eblj/index.html). Preceded by British Library Journal (1975–99; online as part of Electronic British Library Journal) and British Museum Quarterly (1926–73). University of California, Berkeley (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu). University of California, Los Angeles (http://www2.library.ucla.edu). Cambridge University (http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk). See the section on Cambridge libraries in Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections (E210), pp. 25–40. Researchers who need to use the college and other libraries associated with the university should consult the University of Cambridge Libraries Directory at the above URL for information on access to collections. Library and Archives Canada (http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca). Center for Research Libraries, Chicago (http://www.crl.edu). University of Chicago (http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/index.html). Columbia University (http://library.columbia.edu/). Cornell University (http://www.library.cornell.edu). Duke University (http://library.duke.edu). Harvard University (http://lib.harvard.edu). Harvard Library Bulletin. 1947– . Quarterly. University of Illinois (http://www.library.uiuc.edu/index.html). Indiana University (http://www.libraries.iub.edu). Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/index.html). University of Michigan (http://www.lib.umich.edu). National Library of Scotland (http://www.nls.uk). For an overview of collections, see Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections (E210), pp. 631–44. Newberry Library (http://www.newberry.org). New York Public Library (http://www.nypl.org). Biblion: The Bulletin of the New York Public Library. 1902–2001. Title varies. 2/yr. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (http://www.lib.unc.edu). Ohio State University (http://library.osu.edu). Oxford University (http://www.ox.ac.uk/research/libraries/index.html). The Bodleian Library: A Subject Guide to the Collections. Ed. Gregory Walker, Mary Clapinson, and Lesley Forbes. Oxford: Bodleian Lib., 2004. 240 pp. See also Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections (E210), pp. 490–541. Bodleian Library Record. 1938– . Irregular. Preceded by Bodleian Quarterly Record (1914–38). University of Pennsylvania (http://www.library.upenn.edu). Pennsylvania State University (http://www.libraries.psu.edu). Princeton University (http://library.princeton.edu). Princeton University Library Chronicle. 1939– . 3/yr. Stanford University (http://library.stanford.edu). University of Texas (http://www.lib.utexas.edu). Library Chronicle of the University of Texas at Austin. 1970–97. Preceded by Library Chronicle of the University of Texas (1944–68). University of Toronto (http://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca). University of Washington (http://www.lib.washington.edu). University of Wisconsin (http://www.library.wisc.edu). Yale University (http://www.library.yale.edu). Yale University Library Gazette. 1926–2008.
Important specialized libraries include the following: