The Colby College Libraries are the

libraries A library is a collection of Document, materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or electronic media, digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a ...

that support

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. It was founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, then renamed Waterville College after the city where it resides. The donations of Christian philant ...

in Waterville,

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. The libraries provide access to a merged catalog of more than eight million items via the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin consortium of libraries and MaineCat, with daily courier service from other libraries in Maine. Twelve professional librarians provide research assistance to students, faculty, and outside researchers. Instruction in the use of the library and its research materials is offered throughout the curriculum, from an introduction in beginning English classes to in-depth subject searching using sophisticated tools in upper-level classes.

Miller Library

Miller Library is Colby's main library, which stands at the center of campus. Designed by Jens Fredrick Larson of the firm Larson & Wells and modeled after the Baker Memorial Library at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

(which was, in turn, inspired by

Independence Hall Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted by America's Founding Fathers. The structure forms the centerpi ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

), Miller was built in 1939 and named for the parents of Merton L. Miller (class of 1890); an addition that doubled the size of the original building was opened in 1983. Miller Library houses the humanities and social science collections, study rooms that are open 24 hours, a computer lab, the college archives, and Special Collections. Miller also contains a computer cluster and study areas that are open around the clock, and is equipped with wireless Internet access. An open-stack system allows access to the collection with the online catalog and electronic indexes and Internet files are available on library workstations and computers campus-wide. The collection supports all curriculum areas and contains more than 600 currently received print journals, more than 47,000 electronic journals, and domestic and international daily newspapers. The Colby libraries are a repository for U.S. government and Maine state documents. Colby College's Miller Library became the center of a national controversy when more than half the collection was transferred to storage in fall 2014. Lack of faculty consultation was documented in "Talking Points" unearthed by student journalist Nick Merrill of The Colby Echo. Articles were written against the renovation in Slate, The New Criterion, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Colby Faculty published an open letter against the new Miller Library, the Colby administration's dismissal of professor's concerns, and the burdens to teaching and research that resulted. An original story by Matt Hongoltz-Hetling in The mid-Maine Morning Sentinel and the Portland Press Herald was carried by Publishers Weekly and the Associated Press, appearing throughout major newspapers in the United States. Miller became a national example of the "Endangered Library," and critics were quick to see the parallel with the New York Public Library plan to send a large part of its collection to storage: a plan reversed in 2014 shortly after the Colby Library controversy. According to the blog "Annoyed Librarian" published in the Library Journal, "the only person supporting this is the library director. The faculty and students are all protesting". On July 15, 2014, two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and Colby alumnus Alan Taylor wrote a letter to new Colby President David Greene protesting the "substituting office space for texts" in the Colby Library and the exclusion of faculty input in the renovation process.

Special Collections

The Miller Special Collections Library houses the college's collection of rare books, first editions, manuscripts, correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, photographic materials, and the college archive. It has achieved international recognition, with some pieces dating back to the 15th century. The

Edwin Arlington Robinson Edwin Arlington Robinson (December 22, 1869 – April 6, 1935) was an American poet and playwright. Robinson won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on three occasions and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times. Early life Robin ...

Memorial Room, named for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Maine poet, contains his books, manuscripts, letters, and memorabilia. Colby's Thomas Hardy Collection is one of the most extensive in the country. Other authors represented in the Robinson Room include

A. E. Housman Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by pub ...

Sarah Orne Jewett Theodora Sarah Orne Jewett (September 3, 1849 – June 24, 1909) was an American novelist, short story writer and poet, best known for her local color works set along or near the southern coast of Maine. Jewett is recognized as an important ...

, Kenneth Roberts,

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

, Pulitzer Prize winning author

Willa Cather Willa Sibert Cather (; born Wilella Sibert Cather; December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including '' O Pioneers!'', '' The Song of the Lark'', and '' My Ántonia''. In 192 ...

Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom The British Poet Laureate is an honorary position appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom, currently on the advice of the prime minister. The role does not entail any specific duties, but there is an expectation that the holder will writ ...

John Masefield John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Among his best known works are the children's novels ''The Midnight Folk'' and ...

William Dean Howells William Dean Howells (; March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist novelist, literary critic, and playwright, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". He was particularly known for his tenure as editor of ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ...

, and

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

. In 2006, the college acquired the personal papers of Wesley McNair, which extends over 200 linear feet, and includes his writings from elementary school, high school, and graduate school, drafts, manuscripts, and teaching notes. The James Augustine Healy Collection of Modern

Irish Literature Irish literature comprises writings in the Irish, Latin, English and Scots ( Ulster Scots) languages on the island of Ireland. The earliest recorded Irish writing dates from the 7th century and was produced by monks writing in both Latin a ...

contains over 7,000 primary and critical sources representing the

Irish Literary Revival The Irish Literary Revival (also called the Irish Literary Renaissance, nicknamed the Celtic Twilight) was a flowering of Irish literary talent in the late 19th and early 20th century. It includes works of poetry, music, art, and literature. O ...

. It includes inscribed copies, manuscripts, and

holograph An autograph or holograph is a manuscript or document written in its author's or composer's hand. The meaning of autograph as a document penned entirely by the author of its content, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by a copyist o ...

letters of

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

, items from the

Cuala Press The Cuala Press was an Irish private press set up in 1908 by Elizabeth Yeats with support from her brother William Butler Yeats that played an important role in the Celtic Revival of the early 20th century. Originally Dun Emer Press, from 1908 u ...

, and works from authors including

Seán O'Casey Seán O'Casey ( ga, Seán Ó Cathasaigh ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes. ...

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

, and others. It also includes the

James Brendan Connolly James Brendan Bennet "Jamie" Connolly ( ga, Séamas Breandán Ó Conghaile, October 28, 1868 – January 20, 1957) was an American athlete and author. In 1896, he was the first modern Olympic champion. Early life Connolly was born to p ...

collection. The Pestana Collection of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

materials comprises 4,000 books, magazines, audio and visual recordings, artifacts, and memorabilia, primarily documenting the experience of the Western Front. Items such as postwar commentaries, memoirs, poetry, fiction, children's books, handwritten letters and journals, videotape recordings, as well as audio and phonograph recordings. The collection also includes historical artifacts including rifles, helmets, hood gas masks, art items such as magazines, posters, photographs and postcards. The

Celia Thaxter Celia Thaxter (née Laighton; June 29, 1835 – August 25, 1894) was an American writer of poetry and stories. For most of her life, she lived with her father on the Isles of Shoals at his Appledore Hotel. How she grew up to become a writer is d ...

collection contains Thaxter's letters, poems, prose fragments, an unfinished novel, scrapbooks, and first appearances in print. The

Vernon Lee Vernon Lee was the pseudonym of the British writer Violet Paget (14 October 1856 – 13 February 1935). She is remembered today primarily for her supernatural fiction and her work on aesthetics. An early follower of Walter Pater, she wrote o ...

collection contains first editions, over 1000 letters, 136 manuscripts and articles, 117 photographs, and a small number of personal documents and artifacts from the author. Other collections contain various items relating to Waldo Peirce,

Bern Porter Bernard Harden Porter (born February 14, 1911, Porter Settlement in Houlton, Aroostook County, Maine – died June 7, 2004, in Belfast, Maine) was an American artist, writer, publisher, performer, and physicist. He was a representative of the avan ...

'32, and

Booth Tarkington Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 – May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels '' The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1918) and '' Alice Adams'' (1921). He is one of only four novelists to win the Pulitz ...

, amongst others. The Alfred King Chapman room serves as the depository for the Colby College Archives, known as the "Colbiana Collection". The collection of historical records from 1813 to present includes administrative and curricular policy documents, information on student life and customs and Senior Scholar/Honors theses. There are also complete runs of the Board of Trustees minutes, '' The Colby Echo'' (student newspaper), Colby magazine (alumni publication), the Oracle (student yearbook), and an extensive collection of books by Colby graduates and faculty members.

Bixler Art and Music Library

The Art and Music Library, in the Bixler Art and Music Center, maintains a collection of art and music books, journals, sound recordings, music scores, a computer lab/listening center, and study spaces. Internet ports and wireless access are provided. The library contains approximately 2,200 reference volumes, 10,000 scores, 30,000 monographs, 11,000 sound recordings, and 1,200 videos.

Olin Science Library

The 10,800-square-foot Science Library, in the F.W. Olin Science Center, houses books, journals, videos, and topographic maps that support programs in the natural sciences, computer science, and mathematics.

References

External links