Mugar Memorial Library
Encyclopedia
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
and Boston University Academy
Boston University Academy
Boston University Academy is private high school operated by Boston University. Founded in 1993 and located on the Boston University campus, the Academy is geared toward college preparatory work...
. It was opened in 1966. Stephen P. Mugar
Stephen P. Mugar
Stephen P. Mugar, 1901-1982, founder of the Star Market chain of supermarkets in New England, philanthropist and most prominent member of the Mugar family of Greater Boston, was born March 5, 1901, in Kharpert in the former Ottoman Empire now Turkey, of Armenian parents and died October 16, 1982,...
, an Armenian immigrant who was successful in the grocery business, provided the naming gift to commemorate his parents. Mugar's entrance carries an inscription from Stephen honoring his parents.
In coming to America from Armenia my parents opened the door of Freedom to me. America's public schools & libraries opened my eyes to the unlimited opportunity in this great land, as well as the privileges and obligations of citizenship. May this library serve over the years as a similar inspiration to all who use it. In memory of my father and mother Sarkis and Vosgitel Mugar. By their grateful son
- Stephen P. Mugar -
Courtyard
In front of Mugar Memorial Library and adjacent to the nearby George Sherman UnionGeorge Sherman Union
The George Sherman Union is the student union building at Boston University and Boston University Academy. The Brutalist-styled building opened in Spring 1963. When it opened, the Union had a 10-lane bowling alley in its basement. The building is named for the Boston industrialist,...
, the courtyard provides a space for students to congregate. Often the pre-frosh are brought together to familiarize them with the University. Many benches flank the Courtyard and the area is the scene of assiduous gardening, with a great deal of cultivation taking place throughout the spring and summer. Students may sit along the steps of Mugar Memorial.
The courtyard is most often used in the spring and summer. The area offers a full view of Commonwealth Avenue as well as the adjacent courtyard where bicycle storage is available.
First floor
The first floor contains the circulation desk, the reference desk, reserve, computer banks, and reshelving. Computers with blue tabs are for public use while computers with peach tabs are for use by members of the Boston University Community. These include 20 library PCs and 24 IT, or Information Technology PCs, the latter for use by members of the Boston University community only. The first floor also has 9 Library of Congress style computers for searching the card catalogue.Reference materials such as Encyclopedias and the Physician Desk Reference are available in the X section of the first floor.
The first floor also rotating exhibits of papers held by the Boston University Library system, and an exhibit of Napoleon Bonaparte's death mask.
The security booth is also located on the 1st floor near the building exit. All those leaving the library are expected to open the main compartment of their bags to allow security guards to view the contents.
Second floor
The second floor houses the Music Library, with a diverse collection of works ranging from classical, jazz, and rock to contemporary artists. Musical scores are included in the collection as are records, CDs, cassettes and 8-track tapes. The Fiedler Reading Room and the Listening Room are located on this floor.Third floor
The third floor contains the PAL Study Lounge as well as offices for many administrative functions of the Library. Technical services are on this floor, as are many of the librarians. The Martin Luther King reading room,offering some of the work of Boston University's most famous alumnus, is also located on the third floor.Fourth floor
The fourth floor contains study carrels for users with disabilities. Classics, history, linguistics, politics, geography, sports, religion, education, law and photography are all on the fourth floor.The fourth floor also contains the library staff lounge.
Branch libraries
- African Studies Library - located on the sixth floor of the Mugar Memorial Library building
- Michael D. Papagiannis Astronomy Library
- George H. Beebe Communications Library
- Pickering Educational Resources Library
- Frederick S. Pardee Management Library
- Music Library
- Science and Engineering Library
Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center
The University's rare book and manuscript collections are held in the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, formerly called the Twentieth Century Archives. The Research Center is housed in the Mugar Library and is open to the public for research and viewing. The Center also includes a large display area where examples of its holdings are on display.Research scholars must make appointments at least two days in advance to use papers from the collections.
The holdings of the Gotlieb Archive include Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
's papers, which fill 464 boxes on 232 feet (71 meters) of shelf space, as well as the archives of Bette Davis, Martin Luther King, and many other notable individuals from the twentieth century. Also included are original manuscripts and papers of American spy novelist Dan Sherman and the same again for many another of the mystery/espionage genre.
As the Einstein Papers Project
Einstein Papers Project
The Einstein Papers Project was established in 1986 to assemble, preserve, translate, and publish papers selected from the literary estate of Albert Einstein and from other collections .Sponsored by the Princeton University Press and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since its inception, the...
was located at Boston University Center for Einstein Studies
Boston University Center for Philosophy and History of Science
Boston University Center for Philosophy and History of Science is an interdepartmental, interuniversity forum on the nature of science, and each year organizes the Boston Colloquium for Philosophy of Science.-Mission & profile:...
, the Library holds a complete copy of Einstein's papers. Such copies, whose originals are in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
, can only be found at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, and at the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
where the Einstein Papers Project
Einstein Papers Project
The Einstein Papers Project was established in 1986 to assemble, preserve, translate, and publish papers selected from the literary estate of Albert Einstein and from other collections .Sponsored by the Princeton University Press and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since its inception, the...
is now located.
Pappas Law Library
The Pappas Law Library provides scholarly resources, collections and services to support the research needs of the students and faculty at Boston University School of LawBoston University School of Law
Boston University School of Law is the law school affiliated with Boston University, and is ranked #22 among American law schools by US News and World Report magazine. It is the second-oldest law school in Massachusetts and one of the first law schools in the country to admit students regardless...
as well as other legal researchers at Boston University. The law library contains federal and state primary legal materials; major serials, treatises and other secondary materials; legal documents and reports and international law materials.
Medical Library
The Alumni Medical Library serves as the library and knowledge-based literature and information provider to the faculty, staff, and students of Boston University Schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine, Public Health, and the Boston Medical Center.School of Theology Library
The collections of the School of Theology are developed in concert with those of Mugar Memorial Library. The School of Theology library concentrates on theology, Bible, church history, ministry, and historic Judaism, while Mugar collects in comparative religion and the academic disciplines of religion, philosophy, sociology, including contemporary Jewish life and culture.External links and references
- Boston University Libraries Mugar is the main but not only Boston University library.
- Mugar Memorial Library
- Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center