IDS 101: Rousseau’s Controversial Legacy: Using the Library

You can set up an individual research consultation with a subject librarian for research help. Here are a few other things that we can do for you:

• Show you the best places to begin your research.
   
• Locate the information you need within our library or elsewhere.
   
• Help you cite information correctly (e.g. APA style).
   
• Judge the quality & reliability of information.
   
• Teach you how to use information ethically (e.g. avoiding plagiarism).
   
• Determine whether something is peer-reviewed.

Library Hours

Mon-Thur    8 a.m. -- Midnight
Friday         8 a.m. -- 6 p.m.
Saturday    10 a.m. -- 6 p.m.
Sunday      10 a.m. -- Midnight

Reference Hours

Mon-Wed   10 a.m. -- 5 p.m.
                    6 p.m. -- 9 p.m.
Thursday    10 a.m. -- 5 p.m.     

Friday          1 p.m. -- 4 p.m
Saturday         (Closed)
Sunday           (Closed)

Archives Hours

Contact:  archives@willamette.edu for an appointment.

Note: The library is open to the general public Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

More calendar info...

Reference / Getting Research Help:

• Reference interactions will be virtual this semester. We will use chat and Zoom for most of these interactions.
   
• If you don’t have a device with Zoom with you, we have workstations set up in the library that you can use.

Circulation / Checking Out Books, DVDs, etc.:

• All items removed from the shelves, returned, or ordered via ILL or Summit will be quarantined for 72 hours before being available.
   
• Contactless check out will remain available for those that request it in the front vestibule. You may access the vestibule with your valid ID 24 hours/day.

Building Policies for Fall Semester 2020:

• The maximum occupancy of the Hatfield Library is 100 people.
• Access is restricted to current students, faculty, and staff.
• Bring your ID card.  A card swipe is required for access.
• Water fountains have been shut down until further notice.
• Closed container beverages are permitted.
• Eating is not allowed.
• Masks are required.
• Seating is marked to encourage 6 feet of social distancing.

Want more information about the new changes?

• Check out the Hatfield Library News page.

Listed below are the letters and titles of the main classes of the Library of Congress (LC) Classification. Click on any class to view an outline of its subclasses in an interactive PDF format.  This list is based off of the Library of Congress Classification Outline.

Below are key reference books that provide a general overview of a topic or help identify synonyms, related terms, or basic data. These sources often include references and lists of further readings.

Well into our times, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) remains a complex and controversial figure. Rousseau's contemporaries already found inconsistencies between his philosophical and autobiographical selves. After his death, Rousseau was seen as a champion of individualism, at the nexus of Revolution and Romanticism, by both counter-revolutionaries and radicals. Hippolyte Taine went further and wrote that Rousseau's collectivism led inevitably to tyranny and despotism, only to be superseded by Cold War liberal scholars, such as Karl Popper, who claimed that his thinking contained the seed of totalitarianism. Finally, the history of modern educational theory is a series of footnotes to Rousseau, from his influence on the pedagogical practice of his near contemporaries Pestalozzi and Mme de Genlis, to that on later pedagogues such as Maria Montessori and John Dewey. In this course we will explore the man and the ideas that lie behind more than two-centuries of lively reactions, reverence, critique, controversy, and influence. We will ask, for instance: How do we read Emile, his book about child rearing, in light of Voltaire's revelation that Rousseau abandoned the five children he had with his servant? How does a feminist today read an author whose own contemporary, Mary Wollstonecraft, decried his denial to women of the same basic rights claimed for men? And finally: Rousseau, democrat or despot?

Wikipedia is a great resource for getting general info about something, but because anyone can contribute or change its content it is considered unreliable.  College faculty typically do not consider Wikipedia a credible information source. 

Instead, use the library's print or electronic encyclopedias, dictionaries, or other reference books to backup the basic information of your research paper. These resources have gone through an editorial process to check for accuracy. To the right and below are some resources that may be of use.