Services for Harvard Faculty and Staff

Access | Borrowing Policy | Book Renewals | Course Reserves | Computers
Photocopying | Book Purchases | Interlibrary Loan | Group Instruction | Reference Assistance

Access

The library primarily serves the students, faculty, and staff of the Harvard Divinity School. It is open to all faculty, students, and staff of Harvard University and of any school affiliated with the Boston Theological Institute. We welcome visitors with legitimate research needs to consult our collections. 

Please bring your Harvard ID card to enter the library. Due to limitations in the turnstile gates, members of the Harvard Medical School will need to register their cards at the library at the time of their first visit. Other visitors must sign in.

Borrowing Policy

  • Books circulate to faculty, staff, and officers with twice yearly due dates (February 10 and September 10).
  • Reserve items and bound periodicals circulate for three hours.
  • Multimedia items circulate for three days.
  • Reference books may be charged to HDS faculty or their assistants for up to three hours. Please consult a circulation supervisor.
  • There is no limit on the number of books checked out, but common sense is advised.
  • Notices are sent as a courtesy. Borrowers are responsible for overdue and lost items even if these notices are not received.
  • After two overdue notices are issued, overdue items will be considered lost and a bill will be sent for the lost materials and a processing fee.
  • All items are subject to recall. Recalled materials must be returned to the library within the new loan period specified on the recall notice, or a $2.00 per day fine is assessed. Harvard borrowers may use the HOLLIS Catalog to recall items circulating to other patrons.
  • Fines: While Harvard faculty, officers, and HUCTW staff are spared some overdue fines, they are not exempt from recall fines or from charges for lost books. According to Harvard University Library policy, users who do not pay those fines will have their library privileges suspended at all Harvard libraries.
  • Research Assistants/Proxies: Research assistant borrowing privileges cards are available through the Harvard College Library. Please see the information on the Harvard College Library website.

Book Renewals

Non-reserve circulating items may be renewed through the "Your Account" feature on HOLLIS. It is the policy of the Harvard University Libraries to place a limit of five renewals on any material loaned from any library. After five renewals, materials may not be renewed online, but will have to be returned or renewed in person at the owning library's circulation desk. This policy enables the libraries to account for their collections at regular intervals and fulfills their preservation/conservation stewardship responsibilities.

Course Reserves

Deadlines | Submission | Links on Course Websites | Copyright

Andover-Harvard Theological Library will put materials on reserve for any course offered through the Divinity School. If the material is not owned by the library, we will make every effort to obtain a copy of the material—through purchase or loan—so that the material is available for course participants.   

Deadlines

Please submit course reserves requests by the following dates to ensure enough time to process your requests:

  • Fall term: August 15, 2008
  • Spring term: January 2, 2009

Timely submission of requests is essential. The library staff will fulfill reserve requests in order of receipt. Delays will be necessary if requested reserve items are circulating to another patron (necessitating a recall) or if items must be purchased, received, and processed. Reserve requests received after the dates above will not likely be ready for the first day of classes. Late reserve requests typically require up to ten days for processing, depending on the number of other late requests.

Submission

There are two preferred methods for submitting textbook orders to the Harvard COOP and library reserves requests:

The deadlines for submitting textbook requests to the COOP are:

  • Fall term: May 15, 2008
  • Spring term: November 15, 2008

If you choose an alternative book vendor to the COOP, please send that textbook order list to reserves@hds.harvard.edu as well. Subsequent and additional reserves requests must be submitted to reserves@hds.harvard.edu using the library's Reserves Form or the Reading List Tool, available on the Library page of your HDS course website.

It is also important to let the COOP and the library know if you will not require any textbooks or reserve items.

Regardless of the method used to submit your reserves list, your list will automatically display on your course website in the Reading List Tool once it is processed by the library staff.

If you have any questions, please email reserves@hds.harvard.edu or call 617.495.5788 and ask for Laura Whitney. If you have questions related to using the Reading List Tool available via your HDS course website(s), please email coursesites@hds.harvard.edu, or contact Kama Lord in the Office of Information Technology and Media Services at 617.496.9304.

The following items may be placed on course reserve:

  • Any circulating books or media owned by the library, with the exception of periodicals. If the library does not own the item and it is considered a necessary part of coursework, it will be considered for purchase by the library. 
  • Materials from other Harvard libraries will be borrowed and placed on reserve at Andover-Harvard, subject to availability.
  • A single photocopy of a journal article for which we cannot provide a digital link.
    • Each article may be listed separately in the Reading List Tool.
    • Alternatively, a binder of collected readings may be submitted (one copy only).
    • If the coursepack or source book of readings has been commercially produced through a vendor (such as University Readers or Kinko's), with copyright permissions secured, multiple copies may be placed on reserve.
  • A single photocopy of a book or a reasonable portion of a book (in lieu of the actual book).
  • Personal copies of books, textbooks, or media; however, the library cannot guarantee the safety of these items (either by loss or mutilation). 
  • Course syllabi, lecture notes, exams, readings. We strongly encourage that these items be placed on course websites in electronic format rather than on reserve. If you are in need of assistance for this purpose, please email coursesites@hds.harvard.edu, or contact Kama Lord in the Office of Information Technology and Media Services at 617.496.9304.

The following items may NOT be placed on course reserve:

  • Reference books (these may be listed on the course website reserves list, but will remain in the reference collection) 
  • Bound journals or single issues of periodicals
  • Multiple copies of photocopied material
  • Print or photocopies of materials that are available online
  • Microfilm

Please note: At this time, the library remains unable to create electronic reserves. With each reserves list, the library will search Harvard's licensed electronic resources to see if an online copy of the material is available. We will create a link to the online version in the HOLLIS listing for the reserve item, where applicable.

Links on Course Websites

Course websites can be used to provide registered students with direct links to articles via online resources that are licensed by Harvard Libraries. Including links to licensed online resources instead of including the content in a coursepack will reduce costs for students.

There are two methods for locating the full text version of an article.

  • Use Citation Linker: The fastest way to find an article is to use the Citation Linker. Use the form provided to fill in as much information as you have about the article. If the search is successful, you will retrieve at least one link that will take you to the article.
  • Search the HOLLIS Catalog: If you didn't find the article in the Citation Linker, be sure to check the HOLLIS Catalog. There are cases where a journal is available online, but for some reason doesn't show up through the Citation Linker. The most efficient way to search HOLLIS is to use the "Journal" subset of the catalog and browse by journal title. If the journal is available online, you will see the notation "networked resource" in the location field, along with a URL. Clicking that link will take you to the journal's website, where you can search or browse for the article you need.

For further explanation—including screen image examples—of linking to online journals and articles, please see the Harvard College Library’s Linking to Harvard Library E-Resources. If you have any questions about creating links to licensed online resources, please email reserves@hds.harvard.edu.

Copyright

Materials placed on course reserves and on course websites are subject to Title 17 of the United States Code (commonly referred to as the "copyright law"). Resources for understanding how copyright law affects course reserves and course websites include:

Computers

Computers for access to the HOLLIS catalog, other library resources, and email are located next to the circulation desk on the first floor and in the Houghton Reference Room on the second floor.

Printing fees ($0.07 per page) for computers on the second floor are paid through Crimson Cash. Value may be added to a Harvard ID card or Crimson Cash card by credit card on the Crimson Cash website or at Crimson Cash VTS machines at other University locations.

Wireless network access is available on all floors. Network jacks are located throughout the library.

To report problems with library computers, please contact the HDS Office of Information Technology and Media Services (617.496.9111; hdshelp@hds.harvard.edu).

Photocopying

Photocopiers are located on each of the library's four levels. Copiers accept Crimson Cash cards, Harvard IDs with Crimson Cash value added, and bills and coins. Copies are $0.10 per page, using cash, and $0.07 per page, using Crimson Cash. Crimson Cash cards are available for purchase at the circulation desk. Value may be added to a Harvard ID card or a Crimson Cash card by credit card on the Crimson Cash website or at Crimson Cash VTS machines at other University locations.

Library photocopiers do not accept HDS faculty codes. Reference books and other non-circulating materials may be checked out to HDS faculty or their assistants for up to three hours. Please consult a circulation supervisor.

Book Purchases

Please use the Recommendations for Purchase form to inform us about books, journals, videos, DVDs, audio CDs, electronic resources, and other materials that you recommend as additions to the Andover-Harvard Theological Library collections. We appreciate your suggestions, and will consider them within the constraints of our collection development policy and budget.

You may also use the Recommendations for Purchase form to inform us about your upcoming publications.

Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary loan services (for books or articles not available here or at other Harvard libraries in Cambridge) are available to all Harvard Divinity School students, faculty, and staff who carry valid Harvard University photo ID cards.

You may submit online forms to request a book or an article through interlibrary loan, or you may use printable forms (Adobe Acrobat required) to request a book or an article. Copies of these forms are also available at the circulation desk. On the Article Request Form, please include citation information, and do not forget to sign the Copyright Compliance Agreement by checking "Yes" and adding the date.

It usually takes at least two weeks to obtain a requested item. The lending library determines the due date and whether the items may leave the library to which an item is loaned. Failure to return items on time will result in fines and loss of interlibrary loan privileges.

If you would like to recommend that the library purchase the item, rather than borrow it, please use our Recommendations for Purchase form.

For more information, consult the circulation staff, 617.495.7738, or email interlibrary loan, ill@hds.harvard.edu.

Group Instruction

We work with faculty to develop demonstrations for students of subject-specific library resources. The faculty member chooses whether we meet with students during class time, at section meetings, or at another time. We are frequently asked to demonstrate resources for the study of the Bible, church history, ethics, gender, and patristics, but we can accommodate any request that correlates to resources held at Andover-Harvard Theological Library or available through E-Research @ Harvard Libraries.

We also offer one-on-one orientations to Harvard's extensive and ever-growing library resources for faculty and their assistants (TAs, RAs, staff, etc.). 

Please contact the reference staff for more information, by phone at 617.496.AHTL (2485), or by email, reference@hds.harvard.edu.

Reference Assistance

Visit the reference desk, call to ask a quick question, or make an appointment for in-depth research advice. Hours (during term time, except University holidays) are:

  • Monday-Thursday, 8:30 am-9 pm
  • Friday, 8:30 am-6 pm

Call us at 617.496.AHTL (2485)

Reference librarians will work with you to:

  • Locate information
  • Develop a research strategy
  • Find relevant e-resources, books, and articles on any topic
  • Work on any research-related question, problem, or skill

Use our Email Reference Form to send us a quick question.

Use our Recommendations for Purchase Form to suggest material for our collection.

See the Directory by Department or Directory by Name to contact a specific librarian.

Andover-Harvard Theological Library, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
tel 617.495.5788

Copyright 2008 President and Fellows of Harvard College | about this site | privacy policy
last modified: December 07, 2007
Address corrections or comments to Clifford Wunderlich.