Stanford University

Stanford University is a private research university near Palo Alto, California, and one of the world's most prestigious institutions. Its 8,180-acre campus is one of the largest in the United States. Stanford's academic strength is broad with 40 departments in the three academic schools that have undergraduate students and another four professional schools. Stanford faculty and alumni have founded many companies including Google, Hewlett-Packard, Nike, Sun Microsystems, Instagram, Snapchat, and Yahoo.

Notable alumni include Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Hewlett-Packard co-founders William Hewlett and David Packard; authors Ken Kesey and John Steinbeck; film producer/director Roger Corman; actors Ted Danson and Adam West; and actresses Sigourney Weaver and Reese Witherspoon.

Library access: Stanford has a reciprocal program with UC Berkeley and some other UC campuses, Otherwise, members of the public must present a photo ID to obtain a visitor badge. Registered visitors can use library facilities for free for up to seven days per calendar year. Various fee-based library memberships are also available. The minimum cost for borrowing privleges is $250 for three months.