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Cambridge Public Library
8 reviews
Cambridge, MA
Category: Libraries
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Cambridge Public Library…
3 reviewsCambridge, MA
Category: Libraries
Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library
Rating Details »
Categories: Libraries, Colleges & Universities [Edit]
Harvard YardCambridge, MA 02238
(617) 495-2401
- Nearest Transit:
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Central (Red)
9 reviews for Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library
This is only a 3 star review because Widener is pretty. Otherwise it would be 2 stars.
Sure, this is a beautiful building, but when I walk into a library, I generally expect to see...well...books! Widener doesn't seem to think this is necessary.
The first time I came here to check out a book, it took me a full 15 minutes to figure out that the books are actually off in some other wing, and not the main building. I'm pretty familiar with libraries, and was able to find what I was looking for easily enough, but it's a confusing system, and Pusey is one of the creepiest places I've ever been. It's this strange underground vault where several categories of books are kept and the tunnels that lead to it look as though they should be dripping water.
I always try to find books at other libraries on campus before resorting to looking for them here.
Great, beautiful library that is an important resource for Harvard students. Our class also took our senior photograph on the huge, famous steps! The reading room is a great place to study and the stacks are so huge with so many books that you could easily get lost!
There is also the special Harvard Widener stacks tradition... gotta love it! Whatever your reason for coming to Widener Library (wink wink), it's worth the trip!
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I do not like this place. I am not allowed in, and all my ambivalence and resentment toward this supposed cultural resource that LOCKS UP books and knowledge is just compounded in that slight. How lucky Cambridge is, to be home to such a prestigious institution from which the public is barred! How lucky to have custody of one of the Gutenberg Bibles, which we hoi polloi are not allowed near! Harvard, you can keep your Widener. There are better public places to screw anyway.
Can't speak to the library itself but when it's closed and the moon is out their steps are pretty nice to sit and people watch. Maybe do a little makin' out. Whatev.
Good times.
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I tried to access it as an MIT grad student as a favor for a friend. 2 hours, 6 desks later I had a non working ID card and the book I was looking for was lost. I hate this library. Expect bureaucracy and idiocy wrapped up in a beautiful package, harvard style.
People thought this was:
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Yes absolutely one of the most important resources for Harvard students and faculty. I don't know about that whole nookie in the stacks thing, I mean, who wants to do it with dust everywhere? But to each their own. Beware of the light switches on the stacks ... when you touch them you'll get a slight electric shock. It's that dry in there.
People thought this was:
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I have no idea how good this library is because they won't let me in here. Harvard students only? WTF? Across town, MIT's libraries are open to all -- and nearly every other American college is the same way.
People thought this was:
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i'm seriously obsessed with widener right now.
i stop by before my class to study and its absolutely gorgeous. the reading room is just what i was looking for - open, good lighting, decent seating... i could get locked up here for hours.
