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The main library of the university is Firestone Library, located directly across Washington Road. The Psychology Department has its own library located off the main lobby in Green Hall. The Psychology Library has an extensive collection of over thirty-five thousand volumes composed of monographs, bound journals, standard and specialized reference materials, and 350 principal journals in various areas of psychology and allied disciplines. Many of our journals are also available electronically and can be searched and read full-text from your office or dorm rooms. The library also supplies you with access to numerous information retrieval systems on the University Library’s network. These databases can also be accessed from your offices or dorm rooms. Some of the more important of these are PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, MEDLINE, Lexis-Nexis, Proquest, and Web of Science. Library Orientation classes, which are offered at the beginning of each academic year, will introduce new students to the collections and services of the library. Specific information on library usage and privileges can be obtained from the Librarian, Mary Chaikin.

In 1893, a Psychology Laboratory was established in Nassau Hall. One of the four rooms of this laboratory served as a library. In 1920, the Dept. of Psychology was founded by a separation from the Department of Philosophy. In 1924, Eno Hall was built for the Psychology Dept. and one room was set aside as the library. Eno Hall was the very first building of any university in the United States, built for the exclusive study of Psychology. In 1963 when the Psychology Department moved to Green Hall (the former engineering building) on the corner of Washington and William St, one room next to the lobby served as the library. By 1968, a second and third room had been added for monographs and journal stacks. In 1990 the third journal room was moved into the basement to accommodate compact shelving.

During the summer of 2002, the Psychology Library underwent major renovations. The library was temporarily moved out of its space for the major overhaul. When the library was complete in September of 2002, it no longer had the basement room but it gained a stunning “Reading Room” with the addition of 24 seats. A ramp was built going into the second room to ease reshelving of materials. A customized Circulation Desk was added. The staff moved into the space previously occupied by the librarian and a new librarian’s office was built next to one of the computer clusters. New glass display cases at the front of the library house the faculty’s book collection.

The Psychology Library is comprised of an extensive collection of more than 35,860 volumes, including 349 subscriptions in various areas of psychology as well as standard reference works, texts and monographs. Some of the subject areas covered are cognitive, developmental, social and experimental psychology, physiological psychology, perception, memory, personality, psycholinguistics, health psychology, neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, psychopharmacology and artificial intelligence. The library also maintains approximately 5,000 microfiche that range from various reference sources to journal subscriptions to a collection of psychological documents. The library houses a small collection of Government Documents. The library has eight workstations, which connect patrons to the Princeton University Library Homepage where one can search databases such as PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Lexis-Nexis, Mental Measurements Yearbook, PEP Archive (Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing), MIT’s Cog Net etc. as well as the Online Catalog, and numerous other information retrieval systems. The renovated library also has 18 new hook-ups for laptops in the Langfeld Reading Room.

The library staff consists of the Librarian, Mary Chaikin, two full-time Special Collections Assistants, Linda Chamberlin, and Mei-Ying Wang, a library shelver Peggy Matthews and 20 student assistants who maintain services from 9 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays; and Noon to midnight on Sundays during the academic year. Library patrons must present their PU ID or Access Card to enter after 5 p.m. during the week and all day on weekends and holidays.

Some of the services provided are: Interlibrary Loan services; Reference services; an “Acquisitions List” of new items purchased; a PR publication called “Psychology Library News & Notes” which alerts users to new policies and procedures, new databases/systems etc.; and a web page http://www.princeton.edu/~psychlib/. Some of the items on our web site are: information about our access policy, location and services, our borrowing policy, our Acquisitions List, our Collection Development Policy as well our list of Current Journals and Standing Orders and a Bibliography of Basic Reference Sources in Psychology. There is also a section on various other resources in psychology like other academic programs, associations, institutions, organizations and societies, psychology departments around the world, conferences, electronic journals, government resources, job listings on the internet and tests and testing information. For more information call 609-258-3239 or contact psychlib@princeton.edu.