Please note: All email addresses are @libraries.claremont.edu

Judy Harvey Sahak, Librarian
email: judy.harveysahak
909-621-8973

Sheri Irvin, Reference Librarian
email: sheri.irvin
909-607-9526

Cara Barker, Circulation & Periodicals Assistant
email: cara.barker
909-607-3942

Dorran Boyle, Library Assistant
email: dorran.boyle
909-607-3951
 

Student Staff

Students who work at Denison Library are an integral part of the Library's  effort to offer outstanding service, representing the Library to a variety of users.  Expectations for the student staff are high, and they assume responsibilities beyond those generally encountered in a student position. All of the student staff are considered trainees, learning about contemporary library practices. Working at Denison provides  excellent opportunities for pre-professional experience in library and information science and archival practices. Special projects may include arranging archival materials, preservation and conservation, and assisting with exhibitions. Students interested in working at Denison Library should complete an application in the Librarian's Office, 607-3951.  Incoming first year and transfer students who write or e-mail us expressing interest in working at Denison may have an advantage in the hiring process.

Mission

Denison Library offers personalized service and individual attention in a small college library setting.  As a campus library located at an undergraduate host college, Denison is a teaching library with historical and educational connections to Scripps College along with a mission of service to the entire Claremont Colleges community.  By developing collections in the fine arts and interdisciplinary humanities, Denison supports the teaching and research of the faculty, students, and staff at The Claremont Colleges.  Benefiting from the generosity of donors past and present, Denison offers unusually rich and unique research opportunities using original and special materials to students as well as to the wider scholarly community. 

History of Denison Library

The Denison Library is the oldest of the four Libraries of the Claremont Colleges. A desire by the donor, a Denver philanthropist, to place a stained glass window on the Scripps College campus led to the building of the Ella Strong Denison Library in 1931. The prominent Gutenberg window depicts the evolution of the written word and is dedicated "to the greater wisdom of women". An extension of the Library was dedicated in 1966, named the Dorothy Drake Wing for the long- time (1938-70), beloved librarian who introduced generations of students to the pleasures of the book and to research using original and special resources. Denison Library joined the central Honnold Library in 1971 under an agreement providing for a unified administrative structure that with the subsequent addition of two science libraries became the Libraries of The Claremont Colleges. The original Denison building designed by architect Gordon Kaufmann in the cruciform shape of a Spanish chapel was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Electronic Resources

Denison Library provides web access to a broad range of scholarly databases and other electronic resources from the Libraries’ shared homepage, which is accessible to Claremont faculty, students, and staff from all the Libraries and from offices, residence halls, and computing centers at The Colleges. Some of these electronic resources may also be accessed from outside of The Claremont Colleges' network if the individual dials into a Colleges' modem pool. For more information, see the FAQ page for more information on remote access to the Libraries' electronic resources.

Information for visiting researchers

To help us anticipate your research needs, we require at least a week's notice of your arrival in Claremont.  We appreciate written notice, but e-mail or a telephone call will suffice.  Notifying of us of your anticipated arrival will facilitate our having collections ready for your use.  Unfortunately, we can not conduct research for scholars who are unable to travel to Claremont in person. We will do our best to answer specific queries, but complex research cannot be conducted by our staff.  With sufficient notice, we may be able to provide you with the name of a local, freelance researcher to assist you for a fee.