College and Research Libraries By J A C K P L O T K I N Treasures Through the Golden Gate OVER a h u n d r e d years ago, prospec-tors searched for gold where scholars from everywhere now request material f r o m various college and university li- braries located near San Francisco. Since a detailed description of each library would consume many articles, this one will highlight only a few. T h e University of San Francisco Li- brary, completed in 1949-50, was prob- ably the first in the state to use modular planning, which provided the student with the utmost comfort and conveni- ence for study purposes. Its St. T h o m a s More collection, purchased in 1951, is one of the best in the country. I n addi- tion, it has a Christopher Columbus col- lection, emphasizing cartographically the many voyages of Columbus. T o w a r d the ocean is the San Fran- cisco State College Library, completed in 1954. Because of the r a p i d growth of the student body, the library is al- ready adding another wing. Divided into broad subject divisions, collections center a r o u n d specialized reference serv- ices with open shelf arrangements, thus giving students access to most materials. O n Lone Mountain, one of the most spectacular sights in the city is the San Francisco College for Women. Its Mon- signor Joseph Gleason Memorial Li- brary, modeled after one at the Uni- versity of Seville, has an immense beamed reading room, on the ceiling of which appear the seals of renowned universities. Its collections, essentially Mr. Plotkin is Chief Circulation Li- brarian and Lecturer in Bibliography, Stanford University Libraries. those of a consulting reference library, are built a r o u n d the historical and phil- ological library of Monsignor Gleason. H e spent fifty years gathering books and manuscripts, including a manuscript of Pope Leo I sermons (ca. 1150) and thir- ty-five incunabula. East of the bay, Berkeley boasts the largest university library west of the Mississippi, that of the University of California, with over 2,100,000 books. I n the variety of collections, one finds the Ledru-Rolling Collection of French Revolution pamphlets, the Olschki Col- lection of early prints of polyphonic and liturgical music and early books about music, the Kerner Collection of Slavic materials to supplement the already ex- tensive holdings on Russian and Slavic Europe, the Beatrix Farrand Collection on Landscape Architecture, and the Setchell Collection on Tobacco. T h e 17,000 titles in the R a r e Books D e p a r t m e n t include nearly 400 incunab- ula and manuscripts ranging f r o m the Hearst Medical Papyrii dating from 2000 B.C. to fifty-six western manu- scripts written before 1600. Besides these, the Bancroft Library, with its wealth of materials on California, the Pacific West, Mexico, and Central America, brings scholars f r o m all corners of the earth to utilize its facilities. In addition, the quarter-million books, manuscripts, and maps make the East Asiatic Library among the three leading American aca- demic research centers in oriental studies. Farther east in the Moraga Valley lies St. Mary's College. Its library is geared to an u n d e r g r a d u a t e liberal arts curric- u l u m . T h e outstanding feature is a 230 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES microfilm collection of California church history belonging to the Fresno, Cali- fornia, diocese. Its curator, Monsignor J i m Cullerton, collected this material for forty years. Furthermore, the library has over 2,000 p h o n o g r a p h records, which can be played on high fidelity equipment. I n East Oakland is Mills College, a liberal arts institution primarily for women. I n 1954 the present library doubled in size. Its interior, so subtly decorated that one does not realize where old stops and new begins, uses the various shadings of green f o u n d in the campus's eucalyptus trees, creating a r u r a l feeling in the midst of a me- tropolis. T h e 10,000 volume rare book and manuscript collection is housed in the Albert M. Bender R o o m and is widely used in a history of p r i n t i n g course taught by the Reference Librar- ian as part of the Art Department offer- ings. T h i r t y miles south on the San Fran- cisco peninsula is Stanford University, the second largest university library in California. I n the main building are located the general collections and the rare book room which houses, among many collections, the Dirge edition of the T r i p i t i k a (the complete Buddhist canon printed in T i b e t about 1730), the Sir Isaac Newton Collection, the Felton Library of English and American litera- ture, containing original editions of m a j o r and minor authors of the nine- teenth and twentieth centuries, and the Memorial Library of Music which in- cludes manuscript scores by Grieg, Mo- zart, and others. T h e Hoover Institute and Library on War, Revolution, and Peace, is housed in its own building on the Stanford Campus. Its collections are u n i q u e and world renowned with emphasis on the causes and consequences of twentieth century war, peace, aims and trends, p r i n c i p a l revolutionary m o v e m e n t s , propaganda, and public opinion. I n addition the Stanford Lane Medi- cal Library (in San Francisco until 1959) is the largest medical collection west of the Mississippi. Requests for inter-library loans arrive from all over the world. Fifty miles south of San Francisco is the San Jose State College Library, old- est of the state college collections. In 1956 a three story modular structure was completed and connected to the older wing of the library thereby giving a seating capacity for 1,500 students. Plans are already afoot to add another wing. T h e library is organized into five subject divisions with a separate reading room and an a d j o i n i n g stack area for each. T h i s arrangement allows free ac- cess to the materials, with controls main- tained by exit check-out stations. Nearby is the University of Santa Clara. Its library emphasizes, besides a law collection, an undergraduate liberal arts curriculum. It also has a distin- guished California h i s t o r y collection with many mission records. Moreover, as the official library for the Ancient Order of Hibernians of California, it is strong in Irish literature and culture. Alma College, the only Catholic semi- nary west of the Rocky Mountains ap- proved by the Holy See, is in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Because it is a profes- sional school with a limited student body, the library collections are related wholly to theology and collateral sub- jects, with specialization in m a j o r Catho- lic authors who developed theological thought since the Council of T r e n t . I n conclusion, it is regrettable that this article can describe only some of the "golden" library treasures. Many "nuggets" still exist in the smaller schools of the bay area. T h e writer knows that all "prospectors" will be wel- comed d u r i n g the July conference. MAY 1958 231