What does "Dartmouth" mean to you? It's a hard question to answer, but it's one I aim to explore in my blog. Whether you're considering Dartmouth or anticipating matriculation, I hope my blog serves as an entryway to learning more about Dartmouth! I like learning new instruments, and (alongside Hanover) I call Queens, New York, home.
Music is primarily received through the ears, but reading it is even more fulfilling. I took this course with no prior knowledge of any music theory. Now I can read treble and bass clef, transpose pieces across different keys, and play some piano! I highly recommend this course, as it can expose you to the Music Department at Dartmouth and the variety of what you can study here.
Libraries are often thought of as just studying spaces on campus. Don't get me wrong, Dartmouth's Bakery-Berry library is an amazing place to get work done. However, people often overlook the sheer amount of resources libraries have to offer, especially at Dartmouth. Dartmouth Libraries itself offers online access to news websites, a wide collection of physical books, and archives. But what if you need to loan something that Dartmouth doesn't hold?
Dartmouth is an Ivy League institution, so we are part of the BorrowDirect / Ivies Plus database. This partnership is between several schools:
Brown University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Duke University
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Princeton University
Stanford University
University of Chicago
University of Pennsylvania
Yale University
This means that as Dartmouth students, we have access to some of the library resources at these partner institutions. You may be able to use their online databases and physically enter their library spaces. However, each school has its own policies for the partnership, so some institutions have different degrees of access.
I am from Queens, New York, meaning I am relatively close to Columbia University. As a result, I was fortunate enough to acquire a Columbia University Community ID Card, allowing me to enter their campus and access their library. This is especially helpful when maybe my local public libraries at home don't have what I'm looking for and I'm not near Dartmouth.
So, how do you get one? Each school has its own way of applying for a partnership library card. I went to Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus in person and applied for my card at their office. They were able to take my picture and print out my ID within the hour!
In addition to that, I also got a "UNI" and a respective password, which is Columbia University's login system for members of their institution. So now, I am able to access their online resources as a Dartmouth student via an official login.
Every year, I would have to renew my card but my card officially expires in 2031. Thus, I know that my Columbia University library card is something I can use in the long term, which is extremely pragmatic and useful. Each partner institution varies in this regard, so be sure to read their policies!
Dartmouth grants library cards to partner affiliates specifically with the intent of borrowing privileges. This is because our library is open to the public and doesn't require any ID access during open hours. To be able to borrow Dartmouth's materials as a non-Dartmouth BorrowDirect partner, you must show an Institutional photo ID and a successful login to your home partner's library base. Dartmouth will then grant a library card for 90 days which can be renewed with reverification. Non-Dartmouth loaners can borrow any materials in our circulating collections (with respective items' loan procedures in mind).
In the general context of the interlibrary loan function, it has been invaluable to my education at Dartmouth. For my first year seminar, MUS 7.07 Animal Musics, I was unable to access a science article pertaining to bioacoustics for a writing project. Luckily, through the interlibrary loan function, I was able to read the article and work on my paper!
A reminder to loan from libraries! These are Plato's and Xenophon's Symposiums, both of which I loaned on campus. While I didn't borrow these through Borrow Direct Plus, Dartmouth's collection on campus is extensive.
The Ivy League by definition is an athletic conference—but the BorrowDirect program gives a whole new meaning to the collective of the League (and more)! When people say that Dartmouth has a lot of resources, that really is an understatement. It's programs like BorrowDirect that broaden the intellectual experience here, and I'm so grateful to be part of it.
Welcome back to Open Doors—your inside look at life in the Woods! This week, Gabe Brigham '26, a psychology and sociology double major, showed me around his dorm room, where we discussed Dartmouth residence halls, classes, and campus life.
On the final segment of The Stretch, we explored other planets, walked atop volcanoes, and went to the very bottom of the Grand Canyon (and back). Read about it here.
The Sierra Nevadas, Death Valley, and Yosemite. Mapping our surface and searching for the earliest evidence of life on the Earth Sciences study program. Read about it here.
