The Folger Shakespeare Library is a good example of a special collections library. Located in Washington, DC, the Folger is a valuable resource for research on “Shakespeare and on the early modern age in the West.” The resources held by the Folger include: “256,000 books; 60,000 manuscripts; 250,000 playbills; 200 oil paintings; some 50,000 drawings, watercolors, prints, and photographs; and a wealth of other materials, including musical instruments, costumes, and films.”
Due to the rarity of many of the materials, the collection’s use is limited to scholars and qualified researchers. However, there are many resources available to the general public. The Folger is known for its “scholarly and public programs…these include plays, concerts, literary readings, family activities, and exhibitions, as well as numerous K-12 and college programs for students and teachers.”
The Folger website is a good foundation and access point to other useful resources. For example, in the section labeled “Discover Shakespeare,” there are brief overviews of the life and works of William Shakespeare, and there are also useful links to other sites, many of which contain full-text works of Shakespeare. In the section labeled “Teach and Learn” there are many helpful resources for teachers including lessons plans, and there are also fun activities to get kids involved and interested in Shakespeare.
The library’s catalog is called “Hamnet." 
There is nothing particularly unusual or special about the library catalog. It provides basic and advanced searching capabilities and brief, detailed, and marc views of the records. The catalog has a help section and an ask a librarian section. The only characteristics of the catalog that stood out were the categories of “Other” and “Finding Aids.” In the section “Other,” there are useful links to other sites, scholarly journals, and other libraries. There are also a few online facsimiles that are provided as linked resources in some of the records; this is an excellent way to reach out and provide access to the general public and scholars who are not allowed to handle the materials but may be interested in seeing what the original texts looked like. Furthermore, the “Finding Aids” have their own link but can also be found in the “Other” section. They provide some useful information on a few select works, and they appear to be tools that would best be utilized by a scholar.
There is nothing particularly unusual or special about the library catalog. It provides basic and advanced searching capabilities and brief, detailed, and marc views of the records. The catalog has a help section and an ask a librarian section. The only characteristics of the catalog that stood out were the categories of “Other” and “Finding Aids.” In the section “Other,” there are useful links to other sites, scholarly journals, and other libraries. There are also a few online facsimiles that are provided as linked resources in some of the records; this is an excellent way to reach out and provide access to the general public and scholars who are not allowed to handle the materials but may be interested in seeing what the original texts looked like. Furthermore, the “Finding Aids” have their own link but can also be found in the “Other” section. They provide some useful information on a few select works, and they appear to be tools that would best be utilized by a scholar.
Overall, the website and the catalog are not difficult to navigate and they both appear to be very useful resources. However, the catalog seems to be a more useful resource for the scholar while the library’s website, as a whole, seems to be useful for everyone. The website gives everyone access to selected art, information, and even media. To sample some of the media files go to “What’s On” then “Lend Us Your Ears."
Furthermore, the Folger tries to best accommodate who is using their website by adding a touch of personalization for users. On the homepage, a user has the option to choose to browse the site normally or to pick a category in “Especially for,” which is broken down into four categories including: Visitors, Students & Families, K-12 Teachers, and Scholars. Each category has a different introduction to the site and in some categories some of the links that may not be useful to that particular type of user are removed.
For those interested in Shakespeare and/or Renaissance works, I highly suggest checking out this library’s website!
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