Linda Hall Library
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linda Hall Library is an independent public library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri and housing over one million volumes.
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[edit] Description
The Library’s 14 acre (57,000 m²) urban arboretum (with 450 trees representing some 58 genera and 165 species) began at the turn of the 1900s when Herbert and Linda Hall started the landscaping of the property around their new home. The Library was established by the wills of Herbert and Linda Hall and opened in 1946. The arboretum is also known across the country for its tree peonys, which are exhibited in early April.
As a research library it is not directly affiliated with a corporation or academic institution, although it is in the heart of the University of Missouri-Kansas City's campus. Linda Hall Library is the largest such institution in the world. The library has a special collection of rare books on science, engineering, and technology, with printed books from the fifteenth century to the most recent popular scientific journals. The Library is used extensively by companies, academic institutions, government research centers, and individuals.
The main reading room is open to the public, with thousands of monographs available on-hand. The serials are kept in closed stacks, but the library's many helpful pages are available to pull one from the underground. The library's collections include issues from far back to the present era of academic journals, academic conference proceedings, reference works, publications by the government, and technical reports, industrial standards, engineering society conference papers, U.S. patents, and monographs. The Library has 45,000 journal titles, 14,000 journal subscriptions, and each year adds 3,750 monographs.
The library has a cosmology "mini-theatre". Images and views of the cosmos from the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA science missions are delivered, via ViewSpace, to the library. Automatic daily updates (via the Internet) provide the library new content for viewers.
"The Tazza", one of the largest pieces of malachite in North America, stands as the focal point in the center of the main reading room. Parquet wood floors, warm oak paneling and bookshelves, and large windows that overlook the south lawn provide an inviting and comfortable atmosphere.
The Library has nearly finished construction on an additional building and a major remodeling of the existing buildings, to provide space for growth of its already enormous collections. Several additions to the arboretum are planned for the near future.
[edit] Collections
Linda Hall Library houses several collections in addition to its own:
- American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
- Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS)
- American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
- American Petroleum Institute (API)
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
[edit] Example rare books
Online
- Tycho Brahe's 1632 Astronomicall Coniectur [A New Star]
- Georg Joachim Rheticus's Narratio Prima
- George Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio
Archives
- Georg Joachim Rheticus, Narratio Prima (Gdansk 1540).
- Nicolaus Copernicus, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (Nuremberg, 1543).
- Leonhard Fuchs, De historia stirpium (Basel, 1542).
- Galileo Galilei, Sidereus nuncius (Venice, 1610).
- Francis Bacon, Instauratio magna [Novum organum] (London, 1620).
- Isaac Newton, Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (London, 1687).
- Georges Buffon, Histoire naturelle (Paris, 1749-1804).
- Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species (London, 1859).
[edit] Hours
- Monday: 9:00 am - 8:30 pm
- Tuesday-Friday: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
- Saturday: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
[edit] External links
- Linda Hall Library : Call Toll Free at 1-800-662-1545 for more information
