John Harvard Library is a public
lending library on
Borough High Street in
Southwark
Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. The library is home to the Local History Library, as well as a Mouse Tail Coffee Stories cafe.
Namesake
The library bears the name of Southwark clergyman
John Harvard (1607–1638), who emigrated to
and bequeathed most of his estate, including hundreds of books, to the college now known as
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
Description
Library membership is open to members of the public, regardless of whether they live in Southwark. Library membership allows patrons access to free
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
, and there are 24 computers with Internet access, all of which are available for public use. There are 38 adult study spaces, and facilities are handicap-accessible. In addition to offering many programs and services for both adults and children, the library hosts discussion groups and free computer classes. Its collection includes
book
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...
s,
audiobooks,
CDs
The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...
,
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
s,
Blu-Ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
discs, and
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
games.
In early 2010, John Harvard Library added
radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to its entire collection of more than 30,000 circulating materials, giving patrons the option of checking items out themselves without consulting the circulation desk.
References
External links
John Harvard Library, Southwark Council WebsiteSouthwark Libraries on Twitter
{{Authority control
Libraries in the London Borough of Southwark
Public libraries in London
Southwark
Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...