DEANNA BARMAKIAN: Hi there. My name is Deanna, and I'm one
of the reference librarians here at the Harvard
Law School Library. We really wish you could
be here in person with us, but we hope that this
virtual tour will give you a sense of our spaces,
our collections, and some of the amazing services that
are on offer here at the Harvard Law School Library. The Harvard Law School Library
is the largest academic law library in the world. We are the largest
by collection size. We're also a very
large building. We have about 175,000 square
feet in Langdell Hall. We're fully integrated with
the Harvard University Library system made up of 70
libraries on campus. And all of those materials
are available to you with your Harvard ID. You can either physically
visit those libraries, or most of their materials can
be brought here on your behalf here at our circulation desk. So this is the first
stop on our tour. And here at the
circulation desk is where you would have reserve
materials, study guides. But we also check out
things like charger cables, board games, sporting equipment,
pretty much anything you need. It's also a one-stop shop
for a lot of questions. And everyone really wants to
make sure that you find and use our materials. So this is our next stop. This is an example of one of
our beautiful open study spaces and collaboration areas. The library is open to the
entire campus community. But during the fall and
spring exam periods, we do close off the
library so that it's only for the use of law students. This area is open 24/7. So hopefully you're
home in bed each night for eight hours of sleep. But if you are a
late night person, this is available as a very
brightly lit and comfortable study space. We have over 500
seats in the library, so there's plenty of room. In the library, we have
seven group study spaces that you can book for
up to three hours a day. We also have phone booths
in this area in case you want to have
a quick chat home. We also make coffee and
tea available in two different spots in the
library, and they're always fully stocked. So we're here at our next stop. And you can see that we
have these beautiful carrels with power, and they
do have lighting. There are almost 100 of
these throughout the library, and they're first
come, first serve. You've probably noticed
by now that there's huge open areas of our library. So you might be wondering, where
there's this big collection that I was mentioning? We store 3/4 of our
collection in off-site storage housed in museum quality air
control, light filtration. It's fireproof. Our collections are
very well cared for. And they have a
one-day turnaround. Our collection is
absolutely vast. 80% of our collection
is foreign, comparative, and international law. So if you have any interest
in historical materials, comparative materials,
foreign law, this library is
really unrivaled. So we're here in the area
where I usually work. This is the
reference department. This is our reference
collection that you're seeing. And we have about nine
people in our department. Most of us have JDs and
information science degrees. We support the
full research needs of the campus, but
especially the law school, including our 67
programs and clinics, 17 student-run journals, the
faculty, visiting scholars, visiting researchers. People come to use
this collection from all over the world. We have basic reading
knowledge of about 10 languages in our department. We also have specialists
outside our department who do Japanese law,
Chinese and East Asian Law, and people who handle our
Islamic law collection. We do individual
research consultations. Anytime you're getting started
with a research project, we're happy to
sit down with you. We also take questions all day
long through an email queue. We do reference by
chat and by text. So here we are in our
beautiful reading room. It's an absolutely
exquisite room. It runs longer than
a football field. We have our beautiful high
ceilings, Latin inscriptions. It's very atmospheric. It's very Harvard. It's a very popular
place to sit and work. Behind me is a portrait of
Christopher Columbus Langdell for whom the building is named. He was our first dean,
appointed in 1870. He was really the
person who put in place many of the mainstays of legal
education that we know today. KAREN BECK: Hi. Welcome to the
Harvard Law School. My name is Karen Beck. I'm the manager of historical
and special collections. And we're standing here in
what is known as the Root Room. This is the historical special
collections reading room, and it's named for Elihu Root
who was an early 20th century leader of the Bar. This is where researchers come
to use our special collections, our rare materials. And this is one of the
amazing distinctive features of the Harvard Law School
libraries collections. We have hundreds of thousands
of rare and early law books from all jurisdictions. We have hundreds of handwritten
materials from the Middle Ages and beyond. We have illuminated
examples of the Magna Carta. We have 11,000 feet of
manuscript collections. These are collections
of scholarly papers that have been donated
to us over the decades. And they represent a fantastic
treasure trove of the history of areas of law, of legal
study and legal teaching, and particular individuals
like Supreme Court justices. We're also responsible
in historical and special collections for all
the art that you see on the walls in this building. So our collections are
fantastic resources for students and
scholars who want to look at the historical angle
of really any area of law. So here we're standing
in the Caspersen Room. This room was named in
honor of Finn Caspersen who was an alumnus of
Harvard Law School and a great philanthropist. This beautiful room is
our showpiece location where we have classes,
receptions, parties, and where the dean hosts
dinners for the incoming 1Ls every fall. So you will get to
see this room and have dinner in it yourselves. Up on the walls,
we have a number of portraits of important
law school figures. We have a portrait of Joseph
Story who was an early faculty member, very important member
of the Harvard Law School community and the youngest
Supreme Court Justice ever. He became Justice
at 35 years of age. So maybe you'll be able
to beat that, some of you. We have a rotating series
of exhibits in this space. At the moment, we have
Japanese legal materials, including some medieval scrolls
dating from the 12th century. Also on the wall we have a
portrait of the first Harvard Law School Class of women. From a handful back in the
early 1950s, our class of 2019 features 51% women. So Harvard was a little
late to the ball game, but we have definitely
made great strides. Thank you so much
for joining us. We hope you enjoyed the tour. DEANNA BARMAKIAN: And on behalf
of everyone here at the Harvard Law School Library,
we look forward to seeing you next fall. Thanks. KAREN BECK: Bye.
