Stanford University Libraries
Green Library
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| Type | Academic library |
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| Location | Stanford, CA |
| Website | library |
The Stanford University Libraries (SUL), formerly known as "Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources" ("SULAIR"), is the library system of Stanford University in California. It encompasses more than 20 libraries in all. Several academic departments and some residences also have their own libraries.
The main library in the SU library system is Green Library, which also contains various meeting and conference rooms, study spaces, and reading rooms.
Lathrop Library is a 24-hour library which holds various student-accessible media resources, particularly those intended for undergraduates. It also houses one of the world's largest East Asia collections.
The Hoover Institution Library and Archives is an archive and research center largely focused on documents of 20th century history. The Hoover Institution Library and Archives (not to be confused with the Hoover Institution think tank) is a part of SUL but has its own board of overseers.
The earliest library at Stanford was in the northeast corner of the inner quadrangle. It was housed in one large room capable of accommodating 100 readers. This was replaced in 1900 by a separate building on the outer quadrangle, named the Thomas Welton Stanford Library after its major donor, Leland Stanford's younger brother. This library was soon recognized as being too small, and a new larger library in a separate building was begun; however, it was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake before it could be completed.
A major new library was approved in 1913 and completed in 1919. This building forms the older portion of the current Green Library. In 1980, a larger annex was added and the library was renamed for Cecil Howard Green. The original part of the building is now known as the Bing Wing for Peter Bing, who donated a substantial amount of money for fixing it after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
In early years the acquisition of books and other materials for the libraries was dependent on donations and on the often limited general fund budget. But in 1905 Jane Stanford directed that after her death, her jewels should be sold and the funds used as a permanent endowment "to be used exclusively for the purchase of books and other publications." The board of trustees confirmed this arrangement, and the Jewel Fund was established in 1908. It has been augmenting the university's library collections for more than 100 years. The endowment, originally $500,000, is now worth about $20 million. Items purchased through the Jewel Fund display a distinctive bookplate which shows a romanticized Jane Stanford offering her jewels to Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Since 2007, benefactors who provide endowments for library acquisitions are referred to as members of the Jewel Society.
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