Harvard's libraries reflect the complete world of scholarship and information. They acquire, disseminate, and preserve information in all the forms in which it is created. Today, Harvard's library holdings range from traditional print collections to rapidly expanding inventories of digital resources. It is the work of the Harvard libraries to provide the University's faculty, students, and researchers—now and in the future—with comprehensive access over time to all of these materials.
The University's traditional holdings of more than 15.8 million volumes are rooted in the 1638 bequest of 400 books from John Harvard. The core of the University's collections is found in Widener Library—which is under the aegis of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and is acknowledged to be the University's flagship library. Today, Harvard has more than 80 libraries gathered into a single system that constitutes the largest academic library in the world. Widely recognized as the largest academic library in existence, the Harvard University Library is in a distinct class with the greatest libraries in the world: the Library of Congress, the British Library, the New York Public Library, and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
The Harvard University Library, then, is a system of libraries that provides comprehensive access to Harvard's library holdings across the boundaries of individual faculties and disciplines.
In another sense, the Harvard University Library is a department of the University's Central Administration that reports to the president. Known as HUL, this distinct department is headed by the senior faculty member who holds the title of Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and Director of the University Library. In addition to serving as the head of HUL, the director interprets the technical and organizational challenges of the library system to the president and serves as chief steward of the collections for the Harvard Corporation.
