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At last count, I had 111 books checked out of the library, so perhaps it is not surprising that my favorite thing about the Stanford library system is the strength of its collection. As an undergraduate, I went to a much smaller school with fewer resources, and I would often be unable to find the book I needed for my research. As a graduate student at Stanford, however, I conduct my research with complete confidence. I know that Stanford will probably have the book I need, or will be able to retrieve it for me in a speedy manner.
Here's an example that illustrates the strength of the library's collection. Currently, I am doing research on John Dewey, the famous American philosopher. Every so often, Dewey will refer to some now-obscure nineteenth century educational publication. Recently, I came across one of these references, and I thought, "Here is my chance to stump the library catalog...I bet they won't have this one on the shelf." As usual, however, the library had the book-I walked upstairs from my office in the School of Education and borrowed the book from the Cubberley Education Library.
The Cubberley Education Library is a wonderful facility, which I use frequently. Staff members at Cubberley go out of their way to help students. Recently, I was browsing through a catalog of new books that a publisher had sent to me. A couple of the books in the catalog piqued my interest, and I emailed the titles to Barbara Celone, our head librarian at Cubberley. To my delight, she ordered the titles that same day!
The electronic resources of the library are also important to me. The library subscribes to the Intelex Past Masters collection, which allows me to conduct full-text searches of Dewey's complete works. This is extremely useful in my work. I am excited about the Stanford/Google mass digitization project as well. Making works full-text searchable facilitates better scholarship.
I also appreciate the pleasant working environment that the libraries provide. Like many other students, I enjoy using Green Library's beautiful reading rooms. The Bender Room, located on the top floor of the Bing Wing, is the most beautiful of these rooms. It's quiet, it has a great view of the rest of campus, and, if I need to have a rest, the couches are very comfortable. The shelves that line the walls are filled with classic texts from various disciplines, which are fun to browse when taking a break.
The Stanford Libraries are a model of what research libraries should be. When I eventually graduate and leave Stanford, I will be sorry to leave the libraries behind.
David Waddington
David Waddington is a PhD candidate at the Stanford School of Education, and holds an MA in Philosophy from Stanford. He received his BA from Mount Allison University, a small liberal arts college in Canada. His scholarly interests include John Dewey, history of philosophy, history of education, and technology in education. He is originally from the small rural community of New Grafton, Nova Scotia, Canada. |
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