About the Department of History

Library

The History Department Library is located in 2337 Dwinelle (Dwinelle level "B", to the left as you enter the building from the door facing VLSB). Questions about the library should be directed to the Chair's Assistant, Deborah Kerlegon ( kalik@berkeley.edu)

Department Library: Extreme Makeover

Robin Mitchell, a graduate student in Late Modern Europe (specialty: 19th Century France), has been the department librarian during the past academic year, a period of whirlwind activity for the previously sleepy department library. One might ask: what's going on in there? Here are some answers:

The Library collection had not been culled in several decades. Subsequently, most of the books in the Library were standards in the 1930s and 40s, and many hadn't been read since that time. So, over the past school year, there has been a de-acquisitioning of the outdated collection (approx. 1,000 books; many graduate students were the happy beneficiaries of these texts). In addition, we have made a decision to end periodical subscriptions that are readily available in the main library.

The next steps were to catalog the remaining 1,500 volumes and re-shelve them by discipline, which we are delighted to say, has now been completed. Thanks to Professor Mark Healey, we were introduced to Librarything.com, a wonderful (and inexpensive) source for this huge project. Yes, gentle readers, we now have an online catalog of all materials in the Library!

And users will see some aesthetic changes as well. Thanks to an extremely generous gift by Elaine Zelnik, a wonderful collection of Russian books are now located in "Reggie's Corner," complete with our late colleague Professor Reginald Zelnik's leather chair and area rug. We have also had the Library furniture upgraded, and the rugs cleaned. Finally, rare books are now safely housed behind glass bookshelves.

Next steps: Most importantly, we have begun to re-design the library as a reading room consisting of books needed for master's and oral exam preparation. To this end, over the coming school year, approximately 2,000 books will be ordered to supplement the existing collections. In order to ensure that these books remain available for students, all books are now non-circulating for library use only.

Come by and see all the wonderful changes that have been made in the History Library!

FAQs:

Question: Will graduate students eventually have full time access?
Answer: We want a place where graduate students can congregate -- to overcome the anomie that studying for these massive, forbidding exams entails -- by giving them an inviting environment in which to study for this major hurdle in their lives. So, yes, graduate students will eventually have round-the-clock access. We will keep you posted!

Question: Is the department interested in gifts of books from alumni?
Answer: No, because we want a limited, targeted collection. But since these books will be in heavy use, it will probably be necessary to replace them. And of course new books get added to the "must read" list. So gifts of money to be used for the upkeep of Library resources are always gratefully appreciated.