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Purpose
 
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Introduction |
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Even today, as we enter an age of digitized information, I find that my work on the study of computer techniques and their history goes best when I continue my regular trips to the stacks.
Eric Heath, senior reference specialist, on the left, with Don Knuth, at the Information Desk, Green Library. |
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Stanford's outstanding libraries were key reasons why I chose to come to this university in the 1960s, and they have continually been among the main attractions of my life ever since. During most of the past thirty-five years I think I've spent, on average, at least an hour of every working day at one or more of our libraries, having probably visited every nook and cranny of the shelves in all of the various branches by now. Even today, as we enter an age of digitized information, I find that my work on the study of computer techniques and their history goes best when I continue my regular trips to the stacks.
I have probably posed tough problems to most of the Stanford University Libraries' staff over the years, so I certainly can't mention all the many folks who have helped me so enormously. But three people especially stand out in my mind, because their ability to locate obscure material is totally awesome: Linda Yamamoto, of the Mathematical & Computer Sciences library; Eric Heath, who has tracked down books for me in several different branches during past years but most recently at the main Information Center; and Mary-Louise Munill, of Interlibrary Borrowing.
Donald E. Knuth
Donald E. Knuth, (BS and MS, Case Institute of Technology 1960; PhD, California Institute of Technology 1963) is Professor Emeritus of The Art of Computer Programming at Stanford University, where he supervised the PhD dissertations of twenty-eight students since becoming a professor in 1968. He is the author of numerous books, including three volumes (so far) of The Art of Computer Programming, five volumes of Computers & Typesetting, and a non-technical book entitled Bible Texts Illuminated. His software systems TeX and METAFONT are extensively used for book publishing throughout the world. Knuth is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering, and he is a foreign associate of the French, Norwegian, and Bavarian science academies as well as the Royal Society of London. He has received numerous awards including the National Medal of Science from President Carter in 1979; the Steele Prize from the American Mathematical Society in 1986; the Adelskold Medal from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1994; and the Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology in 1996. He holds honorary doctorates from eighteen colleges and universities in America, and from twelve universities overseas.
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