Digital collections at The Bancroft Library

About the digital collections

Bancroft digital collections include digitized materials from Bancroft’s rich and varied holdings and born digital materials collected as part of our archival manuscript and pictorial collections. This ever-growing research collection of digital images, text, audiovisual, and other content files is made available through the California Digital Library’s Calisphere website, and through the Berkeley Library Digital Collections site.

The Bancroft also maintains the following:

Themed collections

Digital archives

* Site no longer maintained

Collaborative databases

* Site no longer maintained

Legacy online projects 
Sites no longer maintained

History of Science and Technology Collections

Overview

Northern California boasts rich natural resources, material wealth, and a culture that fosters scientific discovery and technological innovation. The Bancroft Library holds extensive collections of primary and secondary sources covering an array of scientific and technological fields, focusing on the history of science and technology in California and the American West. These collections document the region's natural history and the scientific and technological achievements of its denizens.

The Bancroft Library’s History of Science and Technology Collections contain printed works, archives, and manuscript documents such as personal papers, corporate records, oral histories, and pictorial images. Formats range from handwritten and printed to audio or video recordings and multimedia.

Faculty papers

Faculty papers collections are connected to teaching and research in science and technology at the University of California, Berkeley. With the establishment in 1972 of the History of Science and Technology Program, The Bancroft Library increased its role in acquiring Berkeley faculty papers in these fields.

  • There are approximately 200 distinct collections, ranging in size from a single portfolio to more than 200 cartons each.
  • The histories of many fields are represented, including physical, mathematical, earth, life, and human sciences; engineering and applied sciences; and general topics in science, technology, and the public interest.
  • Special attention is given to Berkeley's Nobel laureates and to the development of the Radiation Laboratory (now the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory). Papers of staff scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory without appointments in teaching or research units on the Berkeley campus are out of scope.
  • The focus of the collections is on the 20th and 21st centuries, although some include the late 19th century.
  • Faculty papers are primarily in English, although the international, multilingual character of modern science and technology is reflected in correspondence and documents also in other (mainly European) languages.
  • The primary formats found in the collection of faculty papers include manuscript materials such as writings, correspondence, course materials, records of university departments or units, records of professional organizations, grant proposals, reports and related materials, subject and research files, and research notebooks. Collections also include digital files and data, photographs and other pictorial materials, audio and videotape, film, and other media.

Manuscript collections

The manuscript collections are archival collections other than faculty papers.

  • They include more than 250 collections ranging in size from one portfolio to more than 200 cartons, with special emphasis on early modern European and American science and technology, with particular strengths in the 18th century.
  • Subject strengths include science and technology in California and the American West, radio and electronics (especially in the San Francisco Bay Area), development of the Radiation Laboratory (now the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), and Nobel laureates with a connection to California.
  • Prominent 18th century collections include the papers of Rudjer Boscovich, Pierre-Simon Laplace, and the Accademia del Cimento.

Rare book collections

The collection of printed books complements the general coverage of the manuscript collections.

The collection is especially strong in early modern natural philosophy, the history of mathematics (including textbooks), early modern electricity, and publications of scientific academies and societies.

Oral histories

The History of Science and Technology Program and the Oral History Center have conducted numerous interviews with people involved in such scientific fields as physics, chemistry, medical physics, virology, operations research, aeronautics, and the development of radio and electronics, as well as innovations in technology and the development of the Radiation Laboratory (now the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory).

In addition to bound, edited interview transcripts, the collection includes many tape-recorded interviews, and, in some cases, related manuscript materials.

For more information on The Bancroft Library’s oral history program, see the Oral History Center.   

Giving to the Social Research Library

Thank you for considering a gift to our library. Over the years, the library and the campus have been enhanced immeasurably through the generosity of alumni, friends, and the community.

Books and journals

We welcome individual gifts of books, but due to space limitations, we must carefully review all gifts for their usefulness. We cannot retain duplicates of books already in our collections, outdated textbooks, or books in poor condition. We will retain journals only if they help complete our holdings.

To donate books to social work collections at other universities, search for accredited social work schools in California. Click the link for a school and search for the campus library. Often, you will find an "About the library" page that will contain information on how to make a donation.

Public libraries, including those in Berkeley, Oakland, or Richmond, may also be able to use your material.

Financial gifts

You may make a donation directly to the library through the Social Research Library fund. Or see the many different ways of giving to the UC Berkeley Library.

If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact the Library Development Office at give-library@berkeley.edu.

Giving to the East Asian Library

From its origins, the C. V. Starr East Asian Library has benefited from the generosity of the community both inside and outside the walls of the university. John Fryer’s gift in kind seeded the collection at the end of the 19th century and the financial support of library friends made possible the construction of a new building at the outset of the 21st. In the interim, gifts and support from faculty, alumni, friends — and sometimes even strangers — have enriched the collection and access to it.

You can make a donation directly to a program of the C. V. Starr East Asian Library using the online form. In the “Additional details about my support” section, please specify which program your donation is for:

  • Director’s Discretionary Fund
  • Chinese Collection
  • Japanese Collection
  • Korean Collection
  • Tibetan Collection
     

Giving to the Art History/Classics Library

How to support the library

Generous supporters of the Art History/Classics Library may designate gifts for either the Fine Arts Collection or the Classics Collection.

The Fine Arts Collection at Berkeley

Comprising approximately 175,000 volumes, this collection is housed in the Doe Library in two locations, the Art History/Classics Library, founded in 1972, and the Main (Gardner) Stacks. The collection complements the current academic curriculum in the Department of History of Art, where faculty specialize in the areas of Chinese, Japanese, American, European, Modern, Ancient Greek and Roman, Medieval, Italian Renaissance, Indian and Southeast Asian art as well as the Art Practice Department, which covers painting, sculpture, photography, and video art. Faculty and students from numerous academic disciplines across campus use the collection and its books, monographs, exhibition catalogues, microform sets, periodicals, CDs, DVDs, and electronic databases.

The Classics Collection at Berkeley

Comprising approximately 80,000 volumes, this collection is housed in the Doe Library in two locations, the Art History/Classics Library and the Main (Gardner) Stacks. The collection supports the research of one of the premier Departments of Classics in the world as well as that of the Program for Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology. Together, the department and program make for a unique concentration of scholars studying all aspects of the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean world. Subspecialties range from Bronze Age archaeology to the history of classical philosophy, from the study of Greek inscriptions to the texts of the classical historians and poets. Faculty and students from around the campus and world use the collection of printed books and periodicals along with an ever-increasing number of electronic resources as the foundation of their research.

The different types of gifts to support these important collections are outlined below.

Cash gifts for book purchases

Cash contributions of any amount are welcomed as they will support the purchase of new books supporting the collections.

  • Average price of one book for the Classics Collection is $80.
  • Average price of one book for the Fine Arts Collection is $75.

Book donations

Gifts of out-of-print books or library collections are welcomed. Contact Lynn Cunningham about the materials you wish to donate.

Named endowment

An endowed fund is established in perpetuity and has a continuing impact on creating world-class collections in Fine Arts and Classics.

A named endowment requires a minimum gift of $50,000. The university invests its endowments carefully to achieve a healthy rate of return that provides for both current needs and long-term growth. A book plate will be placed in each book.

All checks should be made payable to the Berkeley Regents/Classics Collection and mailed to:

Art History/Classics Library
308 Doe Library
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720

Make a gift

For more information, please contact the Library Development Office.

Library Equity and Inclusion Committee

Last updated: June 2026

About the committee 

Mission

Under the executive sponsorship of the university librarian, the purpose of the UC Berkeley Library’s Library Equity and Inclusion Committee (LEIC) will be to advise the Library Leadership Team on ways to ensure that social justice, anti-racism, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are core values that are championed in both theory and practice in the Library. This committee was established following a recommendation from the 2020-21 Task Force on Racial Justice. 

The Library Equity and Inclusion Committee is a collaborative effort of Library staff and librarians, with campus faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, and staff from campus units. Committee members provide inspiration, input, and guidance with a goal of ensuring that the policies and practices of the Library create a respectful, supportive, and equitable environment for all people who use the Library and all people who work for the Library.

The organization’s progress on its equity and inclusion efforts is currently being tracked annually by LEIC and Library Leadership Team through the UC Berkeley Library Equity and Inclusion Accountability Tracking document (opens Google Doc).

Objectives

Though the committee may adjust its specific objectives year by year in consultation with the university librarian, at launch it will prioritize the following: 

  • Advise and prepare recommendations for the Library Leadership Team related to Library organizational and policy issues around equity and inclusion. This will include building on the work of the Library’s Task Force on Racial Justice.
  • Enhance Library communications about past and upcoming webinars, conferences, workshops, educational events, activism, etc. related to issues of equity and inclusion.
  • Develop programming on topics of equity and inclusion to develop new staff learning, and support initiatives for the Library.
  • Advise and provide recommendations on current outreach and recruitment policies and strategies to ensure that principles of equity and inclusion are consistently applied and maintained to encourage more diverse pools of applicants for all open positions.
  • Advise on Library spaces and inform processes to make our spaces more welcoming and inclusive.
  • Recommend and assist with implementation of Library-focused equity and inclusion initiatives, programs, and training.
  • Recommend campus-wide initiatives and student-led efforts that the Library could participate in to advance equity and inclusion.
  • Annually assess this committee’s charge and structure, and suggest revisions if appropriate.

General structure

  • The Library Equity and Inclusion Committee shall be composed typically of ten to fifteen members of the UC Berkeley campus, to be proposed by the committee and confirmed by Library Leadership Team.
  • The committee may appoint subcommittees.
  • Committee members will have leadership roles for program and project implementation as mutually agreed upon with the university librarian and Library Leadership Team.
  • The terms for librarians and faculty shall be staggered; in the initial year and from time to time this may require some appointments that are shorter or longer than normal.
  • A minimum of three meetings of the committee shall take place per semester. Subcommittee meeting frequency shall be determined by subcommittee leads and their respective subcommittee members.
  • Members of the committee will be recruited by an “open call” nomination and self-nomination process to the campus community implemented by the Library Leadership Team.
  • Co-chairs must be current committee members, and shall be determined in consultation with the committee and the university librarian.
  • Co-chair terms should be staggered in order to create stability from year to year.
  • Subcommittee leads must be current committee members, and shall be determined by and report to the committee. Regular meetings between subcommittee leads and the co-chairs shall ensure that subcommittee work and processes are in alignment with the priorities and recommendations identified by the committee. The recruitment of subcommittee members shall be determined by the subcommittee leads, in consultation with the committee co-chairs.
  • The committee will be provided with funding to support programs and activities consistent with this charge, and with university policy. In its initial year, funding will be in the amount of $25,000.
  • Meeting minutes are shared with the committee for approval and are distributed, upon their formal approval, to the entire Library staff. 

A. Membership

  • Undergraduate student(s): 1-2 (when possible)
  • Graduate student(s): 1-2 (when possible)
  • Librarians and Library staff: 5-7
  • Faculty (Academic Senate and/or non-Academic Senate): 1-2
  • Non-Library staff or external volunteers (e.g., donors): 1-2
  • Library Leadership Team member (ex officio, on a rotational basis)
  • Director of Library Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer (ex officio) 

B. Committee structure and nomination to committee process

Each year, the committee nominates people for next year’s committee membership. This process of nomination and selection can be performed by a sub-group of the committee. This should include an open call for nominations. The purpose of this sub-committee is to oversee the application, nomination, and recommendation processes for the Library Equity and Inclusion Committee. Recommendations for membership shall require final approval by the Library Leadership Team.

The Library Equity and Inclusion Committee undergraduate and graduate student members shall be recruited on an annual basis (with the possibility of renewal for a second year term). Other members shall serve two-year terms.

Committee service expectation: The expectation is that the work of the committee should not take more than 4-8 hours a month for most committee members. The intent is to balance work and committee expectations. Supervisors should be aware of the work commitment to participate on the committee, the importance of participation, and accommodate the release time. If more committee work time is necessary due to a member’s involvement on a project or task, the supervisor should work with the staff member for an appropriate work balance and revised duties. Questions about this can be referred to appropriate Library Leadership Team members if there are any issues. 

Library Leadership Team support expectation: The Library Leadership Team, under the leadership of the university librarian, is committed to advancing equity and inclusion within the Library and, through the Library’s services, on campus and beyond. As the Leadership Team leader, the university librarian has a direct role in supporting the committee’s work, and will bring recommendations and other issues forward to the Leadership Team. The Leadership Team has an ex officio member on the committee to provide an additional communication channel. The committee co-chairs will, normally, meet with the university librarian at least twice a semester to provide updates on the committee’s work. At the discretion of the co-chairs, some or all other members of the committee may attend these meetings. The co-chairs may also request that some meetings be held with the entire Leadership Team if that would be useful for advancing the committee’s work.  

C. Endorsements

As an advisory committee under the executive sponsorship of the university librarian, the Library Equity and Inclusion Committee provides recommendations to the University Librarian on issues related to its charge. The committee does not speak for the Library and does not provide endorsements of specific issues, causes, or individuals, either publicly or in communications to others outside of the Library. Of course, committee members may choose to do so as individuals.

Committee email address

libeic@berkeley.edu

Course reserves

Through the digital course reserves program, the UC Berkeley Library helps students save money by attempting to provide them with free online access to copies of the books and videos they need for their classes. The Library will acquire textbooks or other required instructional materials depending on budget and material availability.

For students

Go to your classes’ bCourses sites to find links to required books and videos that your instructors have selected for the semester. Some instructors may provide these links on their syllabi or through another course management system. If you do not see these links for a particular class, ask your instructor (only instructors may submit requests). If the course reserve program is beneficial to you, please let your instructors know. 

For instructors

What to expect

Instructors submit their required book and video requests to the Library. For books, the Library will attempt to license e-books for institutional use. Copyrighted books that cannot be purchased as e-books by the Library or by students will be scanned and made available through a controlled digital lending platform, UC BEARS (see below). Once the items are available, the instructor will receive an email with the direct links to those items, which the instructor provides to their students via their bCourses site and/or in their syllabus. Please note that articles and chapters are not in the scope of course reserves; instead, instructors may consider whether they can share them directly with students under fair use — contact Scholarly Communications with questions.

Summer 2026

The deadline for summer e-reserves requests has passed, but we will consider new requests on a case-by-case basis to accommodate different summer session start dates.

Fall 2026

The priority deadline for fall course reserves requests has passed, but we will continue to accept requests through Sept. 30, 2026 (requests after Sept. 30 will be considered on a case-by-case basis). For the benefit of our students, we encourage you to submit your requests as soon as possible.

To place an e-reserves request: email your course number/title and a list of your required items; for each item, please tell us the title, author, date/edition, and other bibliographic details. Please include any items you wish to reuse from previous semesters as we may need to reactivate those. Requests for books should be sent to ereserves@lists.berkeley.edu. Requests for videos/media should be sent directly to avmccirc@library.berkeley.edu.

About UC BEARS

  • Content is available 24/7 through a viewer compliant with WCAG 2.1, Level AA
  • Digital items are not available for download or printing (in portion or entirety).
  • Digital items are available only to users with a CalNet login.
  • The number of simultaneous users is determined by the number of UC Berkeley-owned physical copies.
  • Digital items are only available in UC BEARS for the duration of the semester and must be re-requested if needed again for the same or different course in a new semester. UC BEARS links are deactivated after the semester ends.
  • The UC Berkeley-owned physical copies are not available for on-site use or checkout during the semester that they are made available through UC BEARS.
  • Digital items can be checked out for 120 minutes, and items are renewable at the end of the loan period if another user has not checked them out already.
  • Users are able to see if an item is available for checkout or, if in use, when the item will become available.
  • Users may check out one item from UC BEARS at a time.

UC Berkeley Library Roundtable

About

Roundtable is an important forum for information sharing and discussions between the Library Cabinet and the next layer of leadership from all units of the UC Berkeley Library. Members are expected to attend all meetings. When they are unable to attend, members will identify an appropriate substitute that they prepare to contribute to the meeting — this may be someone from their unit who is well-matched to the agenda items of that meeting, or they may coordinate with their AUL/Director to serve in that role. The substitute does not necessarily have to be in a managerial role.

In-person meetings prioritize topics that: are informed by group consideration, impact the Berkeley campus and the UC Berkeley Library broadly, and/or enable members to develop as managers prepared to build a strong organizational culture and to guide our diverse workforce to advance the Library’s and university’s missions. Meetings often include commentary from the University Librarian; spotlights about Library policies, practices, and projects; discussions about current issues affecting the Library; and/or topics focused on management or leadership development. Roundtable serves as an important consultation group to inform recommendations and provide advice for decisions; if formal votes are taken, they will be considered final at that meeting. All members may send information updates that are relevant to managers to the group via email anytime. All members may suggest items for future agendas.

Agendas will be shared in advance of the meeting with any pre-reading noted so members have time to prepare. Guests will be invited according to the agenda topics. Highlights from each Roundtable meeting will be shared in a timely manner with all Library staff. Managers are expected to discuss relevant topics regularly in their departmental meetings and to raise questions and suggest topics that arise in those meetings for future Roundtable agendas. Presentations about programs, services, and issues will be held as open meetings for all Library staff as appropriate.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion statement

The UC Berkeley Library stands firmly in opposition to discrimination and systemic oppression. Social justice, equal rights, and equal treatment for all are bedrock principles for the Library, as we fulfill our public mission. It is clear that we must do more to address racism in the workplace and in the campus community. Without changing the primary purpose of this group, you should carry out your charge in a way that advances the Library’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the context of your group work.

Membership

Roundtable primarily includes the Library’s Cabinet members, key managers that report directly to those people, as well as one representative from the affiliated libraries and the assessment librarian. 

Conveners

Jo Anne Newyear Ramirez, Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Resources

Meeting schedule

Monthly, usually Thursday, 9-10 a.m.

Email list

roundtab@lists.berkeley.edu

UC Berkeley Library policy on sacred texts

About the policy

Last updated: November 2021

The UC Berkeley Library holds a premier collection drawn from around the world to support research and study by our faculty, students, and other patrons. Many of the items in our collection are considered sacred in at least one religious tradition in the world. We have received requests to treat sacred texts differently from our other collections. Most commonly, such requests have included: placing sacred texts in a collection separated from other related collections, adding information about a religious tradition to certain texts, or somehow identifying the texts as sacred.

Our goal is to provide equal access to materials for research and learning. For this reason, we have chosen to catalog and process sacred texts as we do other materials. Philosophically, we believe that separating or marking out these texts from other collections risks impairing access to them, and may increase risk of loss or misplacement once out of our normal protocols. Practically, we do not have the capacity to consistently identify and accommodate all traditions with special treatment of their sacred texts. The Library treats all of our materials professionally and carefully throughout the lifecycle of an item. We also expect our patrons to treat all of our materials with respect and care.

Our local practice aligns with the national standards set out by the American Library Association in the Library Bill of Rights and their guidance on religion and intellectual freedom.

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