Johnson Library Center

Reflecting its academic structure, Hampshire employs a librarian for each school. Librarians are an integral part of the learning experience for students, providing a robust bibliographic instruction program. The first-year tutorial system ensures that virtually all students receive instruction in library research using appropriate subject databases, Web sites, and the tools necessary to evaluate sources and reliability of information. For advanced students, the subject librarians provide individual instruction and consultation, helping them both to define the scope of a project and to locate materials appropriate to their needs. Students learn to use archival material, government documents, statistics, and data from individual research... [from the 2007 Self-Study]

The InfoBar in the library is staffed not only by librarians (Rachel Beckwith for Arts, Bonnie Vigeland for Humanities, Alana Kumbier for Critical Social Inquiry and Digital Pedagogy and Heather McCann for Cognitive Science and Natural Science) and library staff, but also by trained students, a practice dating back to the 1971 Council on Library Resources/NEH grant-funded project, "Orienting the Library to the User."

History
The Hampshire College library is named after Harold F. Johnson, the Amherst College alumnus and financier who gave the initial $6 million to found the college in 1965. Johnson resolutely opposed having the new college named after him, but according to Toby Dakin, the trustees gave him "the bum's rush", and named the library after him instead. He was the first chairman of the Board of Trustees, and held the title "Trustee Emeritus" until his death in 1981.

Historical Documents

 * The Hampshire College Library (1969) and Computers and Computer Use (1969)

Library Home Page
Here's a link to the library home page.

Library Resources
Library collections, as of March 2008:

Books: 118,647 Bound volumes of journals: 13,626 Current journal subscriptions (Print): 307 E-journal subscriptions (Online): 28,648 Other online resources: 328 Div IIIs: 2716 Music CDs: 4133 Slides: 28,898 Videos and DVDs: 3,190 16mm Films: 894

Research Guides
Here's the list of subject research guides.

Library and Media Services Blogs
Here's the library blog. Please read it and send us your comments!

and here's the media services blog.

Offices, Areas, and Rooms in/Related to the Library
feel free to add to this list of spaces in the library.


 * Bradford Room
 * Media Services
 * The Kiva
 * The Five College Library Depository, commonly known as The Bunker

Advertising on Times Square at the Library

 * Faculty, staff, and students may advertise academic and community events on the Times Square.

Magic Board Showcase

 * A digital projection showcase in the lobby of the Harold F. Johnson Library Center.
 * Magic Board on Hampedia
 * Magic Board page on the library website
 * Magic Board Blog

Links

 * A model of the library can now be seen in the 3d buildings layer of Google Earth or downloaded from 3d Warehouse