Nguyen: User Center Spaces SLIS 5630

LINDA HALL LIBRARY

an independent library focused providing resources on Science, Engineering, and Technology. 

From their website: WWW.LHL.LIB.MO.US

The Linda Hall Library is the world's foremost independent research library devoted to science, engineering and technology. A not-for-profit, privately funded institution, the Library is open to the public free of charge.

Since 1946, scholars, students, researchers, academic institutions and businesses throughout the Kansas City region, across the nation and around the world have used the Linda Hall Library's collections to learn, investigate, invent, explore and increase knowledge. Hundreds of people of all ages attend the Library's public programs each year to expand their awareness andunderstanding of science and technology.

It all began with a remarkable gift...

Herbert and Linda Hall lived in a large Georgian home located in the heart of the area that has become a cultural center of Kansas City, Missouri. Over the years Herbert Hall amassed a sizable estate through his grain business. Since he and Linda had no direct heirs, they carefully considered the disposition of their estate. They hoped “...that their wealth might build up an important cultural agency as a contribution to the city in which they made their home.” (Kansas City Star, October 15, 1945). The result was a $6 million bequest to establish “ ... a free public library for the use of the people of Kansas City and the public generally... ” (from the Halls’ wills). The wills stipulated only that the Library was to be located on the grounds of their estate, and that it was to be named in honor of Linda who died in 1938. Herbert died in 1941.

In 1941, the Board of Trustees, consisting of five businessmen named by the Halls, hired consultants from the national library community to advise them about the type of library that should be established. After extensive research and briefings with local and regional leaders, the consultants recommended the creation of a science and technology library. The trustees named Joseph C. Shipman, a librarian and former chemist, as the Library’s first director in 1945, and the work began to build the library’s collections.

In the late spring or early summer of 1946, on a date of which no one is quite certain, the doors to the library opened to all who seek scientific and technical information.

The foundation for the collections was determined by the Trustees who defined the Library’s area of specialization as “covering the fields of basic science and technology.” Clinical medicine, dentistry, and business were excluded since other local and regional libraries collect these subjects.

The collection policy emphasizes the acquisition of journals and other serial publications. Monographs, conference proceedings, indexes and abstracts, documents, technical reports, and other reference materials are also acquired to support the journal collection. Although the Library has regularly acquired material since 1946, several acquisitions are specifically worth noting.

The Library’s first major purchase was the library collection of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1946. This acquisition provided a strong foundation for the Library’s collections including journals, rare books, and the exchange program that supports the interchange of material with foreign academies and societies.

A second significant acquisition occurred in 1985 when part of the library of the Franklin Institute was transferred from Philadelphia. Nearly 600 serial titles were added to the Linda Hall Library, increasing or completing runs of serials titles, and adding new titles.

In 1995, the Engineering Societies Library (ESL) was transferred to Linda Hall, an acquisition equal in significance to the Academy collection, and greater in the number of volumes received. The ESL collection added depth to both the journal and monograph collections, especially with material published before 1950.

The Halls lived in a Georgian mansion with carefully tended grounds of twenty-one acres in the heart of Kansas City. It was their home that housed the library from its beginnings until 1956 when the main library building of four floors opened. The architectural firm, Edward W. Tanner & Associates, designed an impressive building of clean lines with a brick exterior and an interior that reflects the surrounding environment with the use of large windows and oak woodwork.

The main building provided sufficient space for the growth of the collection until the early 1960’s when plans were developed for an annex building which would house additional materials plus provide an auditorium and an exhibition room. The Annex, also designed by Tanner & Associates and completed in 1965, was constructed on the site of the Halls’ home. Many architectural elements from the home were incorporated into the new building.

In the early 1970’s, the Rare Book Room was expanded through the generous gift of Mrs. Helen Spencer from the Kenneth A. and Helen F. Spencer Foundation. Opening late in 1973, the addition doubled the space for the Library’s rare treasures and is named The Helen Foresman Spencer Rare Book Room.

A four-floor extension on the south side of the main building, designed by Marshall and Brown Architects, was finished in 1978. The new addition completed the cruciform design in the Main Reading Room and added study, office, and shelving space.

The most recent addition to the library, designed by Peckham, Guyton, Albers & Viets, Inc. and finished in 2006 by J. E. Dunn Construction, was an expansion and renovation project that included a three-story addition to the Annex and renovation of the existing building. The library buildings now comprise 220,000 square feet of library space and include over 32 miles of shelving.

THE ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTION

Engineering and Technology

The Library has a very strong engineering and technology collection, made even stronger by the acquisition of the Engineering Societies Libraries in 1995. The Library’s major emphasis in engineering is on collecting important current research material. In addition to civil engineering, applied mechanics and related disciplines are the most extensively covered subjects in the Library’s collection.
The collection includes meeting papers from many engineering societies including the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME).
Acquisition of the collection of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) broadened an already strong collection in Aerospace engineering and history. This collection includes an extensive collection of individual papers collected by AIAA as well as NASA papers.
A variety of Government Documents and Technical Reports are available. Holdings can be determined by contacting Reference. The most heavily used of these document holdings will be added to the catalog over the next few years.
The Library owns an impressive collection of engineering standards and specifications issued by industry and government. The collection contains not only current standards and specifications, but a large collection of historical documents, as well.

SERVICES:

LHL Direct provides

• Searches of scientific and technical literature.
• Copyright compliant provision of documents from the collection and other sources.
• Pursuit of copyright permissions on behalf of customers.
• Lending and renewal of selected books and standards from the collection.

Examples of searches

• Mechanical and physical properties of chemicals and materials.
• Historical uses of technical terms in relationship to intellectual property.
• Articles on specific ships, railroads, engineering companies or products for historians, journalists and attorneys.
• Historical articles on subways, sewers, bridges and other public works as background for renovation projects.
• Information on the uses of chemicals, endangered species and other environmental topics.
• Articles on the synthesis or manufacturing processes of specific chemicals.
• Current or archival specifications related to machinery and safety for engineers, consultants and attorneys.

Fees

Searches

In addition to hourly fees, subject searches may include database fees. Rush searches are provided, dependent on staff availability.

• Regular: $50 per hour
• Rush: $75 per hour

DIGITAL COLLECTION:

one of their newest collections that they've created is the Paper Dinosaur Digital collections. 

Steven Spielberg used Linda Hall Library's Paper Dinosaurs Web Exhibit as a resource when producing Jurassic Park movie. 

their other digital collections include:

Early Astronomy

Astronomy Selected Images

Astronomy Star Atlases

Dinosaur Discovery

Engineering Indexes

History of Cosmology

History of Engineering & Techonology

ICE: 19th century polar exploration

Natural History

Panama Canal

Parachute History Collection

Philosophy of Science

The Grandeur of Life

They have their own video website at: 

http://vimeo.com/user2667588

Martin Chalfie: 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. "GFP: Adventures in Nontranslational Research" from Linda Hall Library on Vimeo.

Ever since the invention of you tube, people are trying to promote and market their information. Libraries are espcially always striving to keep up with the technolody that current gnerations are keeping up with, espcially the Linda Hall Library.

their latest video is with Martin Chalfie: the 2008 Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry

They also have their own Facebook page: 

http://www.facebook.com/Linda.Hall.Library

For anyone who is interested in looking at the Linda Hall photo of events, 

it can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/linda-hall-library/

Article indicates how the library is expanding its services by opening branches in other states such as New York City. 

Huesmann, J., & Downing, D. (1996). Extending access and delivery (far) beyond the library walls. (cover story). Computers in Libraries, 16(5), 28. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Some more interesting facts found on their website:

Linda Hall Library's journal collection stretches over 32.5 miles of shelving.
The library holds a complete set of the first two scientific journals, both of which began publication in 1665.
LHL staff verified the location of 19 New Orleans floodwater pumping stations following Hurricane Katrina.
In 2008, Linda Hall Library provided services to people in more than 68 countries.
The oldest book in the rare book collection was published in 1472.
In 2008, Linda Hall Library completed 31,234 reference transactions.
More than 65 languages are represented in LHL's collections.