Harvard University

Department of Philosophy

Robbins Library

History | Hours | Policies | Librarian | Collection

History

Robbins Library is our small philosophy library on the second floor of Emerson Hall. It was founded in 1905, by a gift from Reginald C. Robbins (A.B. 1892). [1] Our collection is a snapshot of the development of Anglo-American philosophy from the late 19th century to the early 21st century.

Many prominent figures who have taught in, or who were associated with, the department over the years have donated books to our collection. It is not unusual to find a book that had previously been owned and annotated by William James, George Santayana, Rudolph Carnap, or C.S. Peirce, for example, on our shelves.

Benjamin Rand (A.B. 1879, A.M. 1880, Ph.D. 1885) was the first dedicated librarian of Robbins Library, from 1906 to 1934. Rand wrote and edited a number of works of philosophy, including the Locke/Clarke correspondence and the works of Shaftesbury. He was also involved with the creation of the B Class (Philosophy, Psychology, and Religion) of the Library of Congress Classification system, which is still in use today.

In its early days, the use of Robbins Library was restricted to advanced students in the department and "members of the Philosophical Seminaries," [2] as this announcement in the 15 February 1906 issue of The Harvard Crimson indicates. Students taking introductory courses were not permitted to use Robbins; instead, they were directed to find their reading and research materials in Gore Hall, the predecessor to Widener Library.

Currently, all Harvard students, faculty, staff, and affiliates may use Robbins Library, although our collection remains non-circulating, as it was back in 1906.

[1] The Development of Harvard University Since the Inauguration of President Eliot, 1869-1929. (1930). S.E. Morison, Ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press: 31. Robbins was quite an interesting figure -- poet, amateur philosopher, composer, volunteer naval officer, historian, conservationist, and naturalist -- as his obituary in the Memorial Minutes of the Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, Vol. 29. (1955 - 1956), pp. 116-117, indicates. (Harvard ID and PIN required to access this.)
[2] "Philosophical Seminaries" were advanced courses open only to graduate students and "specialists." First offered after the reform of Harvard's curriculum by President C.W. Eliot in the late nineteenth-century, they are the equivalent of today's graduate seminars. Please see Rand, B. (1929). Philosophical Instruction in Harvard University from 1636-1906. Boston: Harvard Graduates Magazine Association, 36-38, for more information.

Hours

Robbins opens for the Spring 2008 term on 30 January 2008. Hours for the spring term will be:

Monday:	11 am - 10 pm
Tuesday:	12 pm - 10 pm
Wednesday:	12 pm - 10 pm
Thursday:	12 pm - 10 pm
Friday:	12 pm - 5 pm

However, at the beginning and end of term, hours are somewhat less predictable, since staffing schedules have to be re-adjusted to accommodate the course and exam schedules of library employees. Please call ahead to confirm hours, if you are unsure.

The Library is closed on weekends, as well as all university holidays and vacations.

Please note: Robbins will close for the summer from 22 May 2008 - 15 September 2008.

Policies

Robbins a non-circulating research library that focuses its collection on the teaching and research interests of the department faculty and graduate students. Books and other materials may not leave Robbins for any reason, other than to make copies across the hall from the library -- no exceptions.

Additionally, many of the philosophy department course reserve materials are located here, behind the main desk of the library. These may be signed out for perusal or copying in Emerson Hall. They may not, for any reason, leave Emerson Hall -- no exceptions.

You are welcome to bring laptops, as Emerson Hall has wireless Internet access.

Librarian

The department librarian is Jason Pannone, MA, MSLIS. His hours are Monday through Friday, from 9 AM to 5 PM, and by appointment.

Jason offers help in the following areas:

Locating, copying, and reserve materials for courses
Reference and research
Bibliographic instruction for individuals and groups
Collection development
Web design/Course Web site set-up and maintenance
Other information-related needs.

Please contact Jason at (617) 495-2194 or at pannone@fas.harvard.edu to learn more about what he and the library can offer to you.

Jason also blogs about the library at Robbins Library Notes.

Collection

Most of Robbins's collection can be located by searching the University's On-Line Catalog, HOLLIS.

Briefly, the highlights of our collection are:

General collection
Books	Our books are cataloged and arranged according to the Library of Congress classification scheme. The majority of the collection falls under the B Class, a guide to which may be found here. We also have materials which fall under the subsequent classes, C through T. At present, the collection is strongest in Anglo-American and analytic philosophy. We do have some works in Continental and Eastern philosophy, but our holdings are not extensive in these areas.
Electronic Resources	A list of electronic resources, as well as additional philosophy resources, available to you at Harvard can be found in the Web guide, Philosophy Resources at Harvard.
Periodicals	The Library currently subscribes to over fifty journals, covering ethics, logic, the history of philosophy, the philosophy of science, and other topics. A complete list of our holdings, indicating current subscriptions and electronic access, can be found here.
Reference	We have several major philosophical reference sources, such as the Philosopher's Index, the Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1st and 2nd editions), the Encyclopedia of Ethics, the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, along with foreign language dictionaries and other general reference sources.
Special Collections
Bechtel Materials	Edwin D.T. Bechtel (A.B. 1903, A.M. 1904, J.D. 1908) was a prominent lawyer and generous benefactor of the department. Robbins is proud to house his collection of philosophy books, many of which are presentation copies, e.g., from William James, or are works that are valuable for historical reasons. The non-philosophical items in the Bechtel collection include Bechtel's undergraduate and master's theses, along with clippings, photos, and other things from his student years and adult life. Prominent among these are a letter from Franklin D. Roosevelt (with whom Bechtel clerked at Carter, Ledyard & Milburn), photographs of and ephemera from his tour of Europe in 1904, and materials from his time at Harvard.
Dissertations	We have hard copies of doctoral dissertations from the 1980s going forward, although our set is not complete. A few dissertations from earlier years are also available for perusal. For a complete set of dissertations, please consult the Harvard University Archives.
Kierkegaardiana	Robbins holds approximately 200 volumes of primary and secondary sources by and about Søren Kierkegaard, and some works by people connected with Kierkegaard, e.g., Rasmus Nielsen and H.L. Martensen.
Royce Materials	Some of Josiah Royce's books, including include old editions of Kant, Husserl, Hegel, Cudworth, Wolff, among others, can be found in Robbins, along with offprints of articles that Royce published during his lifetime.
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