Welcome to the Chapin Library
The Chapin Library, together with College Archives and Special Collections, will close after December 20, 2013 to prepare for our move from temporary quarters to the new Stetson Hall-Sawyer Library. We encourage faculty, students, and visiting scholars to plan ahead for research, and for the possibilities of class use during the 2014/15 academic year.
After December 20th, services will not be available until the opening of the new library in Fall Term 2014. Staff will not be able to answer research questions or provide access to materials, due to the complexity of the move.
The Chapin Library will operate as usual during the Fall 2013 semester. Please plan accordingly, however, to ensure that use of our collections is completed by the end of December.
The Chapin Library offers the students and faculty of Williams College, together with the wider community of scholars, exciting opportunities for learning and research. The Chapin Library documents civilization, in the broadest sense of that word – people, places, events, and ideas – through rare books, manuscripts, and other primary source materials, in all subjects and periods of history, in support of the liberal arts education provided by Williams College. Created by an alumnus for the use of Williams undergraduates, it has carried out its mission of instruction and inspiration since 1923.
Hundreds of undergraduates, graduate students, faculty members, and visiting scholars use the Chapin Library each year. Individually or in class groups, they benefit from one of the finest collections of rare books and manuscripts at any American college or university, and one that is also of international stature. Together with the Williams College Libraries and the Library of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, the Chapin Library is an important part of the substantial library facilities to be found in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is also a major art resource in the region, often used in conjunction with the Clark Art Institute and the Williams College Museum of Art.
Due to renovation of our rooms in Stetson Hall and the pending construction of a new library/information technology center, the Chapin Library is currently in temporary quarters in the historic Southworth Schoolhouse. During this period, many of our holdings are in storage and will be unavailable for use. Printed materials available for consultation in our temporary reading room are indicated in the online catalogue FRANCIS by the tag “non-circ”. For the availability of manuscripts and other collections, please contact a member of our staff.
While we are in temporary quarters, we have no exhibitions on site. The Library's collection of the Founding Documents of the United States is on temporary display at the Williams College Museum of Art until late summer 2014.
The links in the menu bar at left lead to more detailed information on the Chapin Library and how to use it.