The Challenge - Stanford University Libraries & Academic ...

Stanford Fisheries Policy Project Oceans today face daunting
global challenges: pollution, climate change, and overfishing,
among other threatening problems. Many major fisheries are
in decline. Where scientific solutions are possible, they must
be implemented hand-in-hand with political, legal, economic
and social change. The Stanford Fisheries Policy Project,
organized by the Hopkins Marine Station and the Stanford
Law School, is currently engaged in breakthrough studies in
the management of fisheries. To support the project’s research,
Miller Library is expanding its fields of collection to acquire
additional materials on worldwide marine policy issues.
Joe Wible
Head, Miller Library of
Marine Biology
Geothermal, Electrical and Environmental Archive
The Engineering Library, with the assistance of the Branner
Earth Sciences Library and the Stanford Linear Accelerator
Center, is acquiring the archival collection of the Rogers
Engineering Company, a San Francisco consulting engineering
firm specializing in geothermal, electrical and environmental
projects worldwide from 1946-1990. Engineering
project files, site maps, environmental impact reports, and
scale models will support student and faculty research in
renewable energy initiatives on campus. The collection will
especially benefit the Stanford Geothermal Program, which
offers specialized graduate degrees in geothermal reservoir
engineering in coordination with the Department of Energy
Resources Engineering.
Helen Josephine
Head, Engineering Library,
Terman Engineering Center
Left
Page from Edwin V.
Warren’s diary and
ticket stub.
Right
Idyllically located in
Pacific Grove, California,
Miller Library of
Marine Biology plays a
central role in Stanford’s
environmental research
programs.
Opposite
Farquhar Transparent
Globe of the Geocentric
Celestial Sphere
housed in the Physics
Library.
Witness to Western American Mining and Environment
In 1903, Stanford student Edwin V. Warren, Class of 1908,
rode his bicycle from his home in Pacific Grove to Sacramento,
continuing by train, ship and foot to Douglas Island, just south
of Juneau, Alaska. There, while working in the Treadwell Gold
Mines to earn money for tuition, as he did again the following
year, Edwin kept his manuscript diaries in two small leatherbound
volumes. Full of commentary on mining life and natural
scenery, the journals are especially rich in observations
on birds. A graduate student in the Department of History
passed along word of the diaries’ existence and through the
Lane Fund for Western United States History, the Stanford
University Libraries acquired the diaries from Warren’s
grandson. Already the diaries have been used by an undergraduate
writing her senior thesis on the geology of the area
around the Treadwell mines. The many and varied themes
of the diaries – from the social and working conditions in the
mines to detailed observations of flora and fauna – illustrate
the multidisciplinary nature of environmental history.
Benjamin Stone
Curator, American and
British History
Energy and Environmental Policy Resources Vulnerable areas
of the environment are affected daily by natural factors such
as climate change and human factors such as energy policy
and patterns of resource consumption. Natural scientists
and social scientists who work on environmental topics need
access to daily technical and policy-related information. To
meet this demand, an interdisciplinary group of social science
and science and technology subject specialists jointly have
purchased access to several daily topical newsletters: Environment
& Energy Daily for legislative initiatives and deliberations,
Greenwire for energy and environmental policy news, and Land
Letter – The Natural Resources Weekly Report. These important
sources of environmental news from E&E Publishing, Inc.
are supplemented by the publisher’s special reports on topics
such as the Everglades, climate change, sustainable design
and grid power from the sea.
Anthony Angiletta
Dean and Virginia Morrison Curator for
Social Sciences, Demography and
Population Studies
The Initiative on the Environment and Sustainability
Issues of the environment and sustainability tend to be complex, merging concerns
with hard science, applied technology, policy, business, law, and social science.
The Stanford Libraries are deeply engaged with this initiative through many of its
collections across campus.
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