Smithsonian Institution Libraries

The Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL) system consists of 20 libraries available to various museums and research centers within the Smithsonian Institution . The holdings of the SIL comprise 1.5 million volumes and a wide range of digital resources. The collections mainly focus on science, art, history and culture and museums. The SIL is in the process of analyzing its tasks and goals in order to continue to provide the best information that the new generation of users needs, to strengthen research, and to reach those who do not personally manage the institution via the Internet to be able to use. The SIL catalog is part of the Smithsonian Research Information System (SIRIS), from which one can search 1.89 million data sets - texts, images, video and sound files - from the entire Smithsonian Institution. In 2008 the SIL celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Locations

Most of the Smithsonian's libraries are in the Washington DC area, which is also where most of the institute's museums and research centers are. Other locations are in New York City , Suitland, Edgewater and Panama .

Locations in detail:

• Washington DC
  • Anacostia Community Museum Library (Washington, DC)
  • Botany and Horticulture Library (Washington, DC)
  • Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Library (Washington, DC)
  • Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library (Washington, DC)
  • John Wesley Powell Library of Anthropology (Washington, DC)
  • Museum Studies Reference Library (Washington, DC)
  • National Air and Space Museum Library (Washington, DC)
  • National Museum of American History Library (Washington, DC)
  • National Museum of Natural History Library (Washington, DC)
    • National Museum of Natural History Library, Invertebrate Zoology (Washington, DC)
    • National Museum of Natural History Library, Vertebrate Zoology (Washington, DC)
  • National Postal Museum Library (Washington, DC)
  • National Zoological Park Library (Washington, DC)
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum / National Portrait Gallery Library (Washington, DC)
  • Vine Deloria, Jr. Library, National Museum of the American Indian (Suitland, Maryland)
  • Warren M. Robbins Library, National Museum of African Art (Washington, DC)
• Edgewater, Maryland
  • Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Library (Edgewater, Maryland)
• New York City, New York
  • Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Library (New York, New York)
• Republic of Panama
  • Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Library (Republic of Panama)

Museum Support Center Library

Coordinates

Suitland, Maryland is home to the Smithsonian's Museum Support Center (MSC), which was inaugurated in May 1983. It is the principal outsourcing facility for the preservation and collection of museum pieces and works for various Smithsonian museums, primarily the National Museum of Natural History . The grounds of the MSC are over 18,000 m² and it offers a usable area of ​​46,000 m². This makes it one of the largest building units in the Smithsonian. The cabinets are over 19 km long and contain over 31 million objects.

The Support Center forms a zigzag shape that consists of several building parts. In every part of the building there is a wide corridor that separates the warehouse from the offices and laboratories. Each part of the building is approximately 90 meters long, has three floors and has its own air conditioning. According to the 2009 budget, the MSC uses three types of storage to store its exhibits: collections in cupboards, open shelves for biological samples soaked in alcohol, and high-bay storage for very large objects such as totem poles , boats, meteorites , and large, prepared mammals.

Part of the roof was damaged by a storm in early February 2010.

Special collections

There are two specialty libraries in the Smithsonian Institution Libraries. The Special Collections Department is responsible for the compilation and storage of rare books and manuscripts and houses them in two special libraries, the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology and the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History . The curators and researchers of the Smithsonian Institution have access to these libraries. Other external employees and scholars are given access by appointment.

Further material for special collections is kept at the other SIL locations.

The Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology

It contains 35,000 books and 2,000 manuscripts on the history of research and technology. It was opened in 1976 with a donation from Bern Dibner . The library is located in the National Museum of American History , which reopened in 2008 after a major overhaul.

The Cullman Library of Natural History

It contains some 10,000 volumes from the fields of anthropology and natural science that date from before 1840.

Digital initiatives

These are coordinated by the New Media Office of the Smithsonian Institution.

The digital library

It includes publications, collections and objects such as online exhibitions, webcasts, search aids, digital versions of the print editions, bibliographies. The Biodiversity Heritage Library , part of the Encyclopedia of Life , is one of the most important digital initiatives in which the SIL is involved.

Smithsonian Libraries 2.0

Ongoing activities include a blog, Facebook page, Flickr page, and Twitter feed.

Fellowships and internships

SIL offers scholarships to historians , librarians , graduate students, and post-graduate students who wish to research the history of science and technology, as well as the areas of specialty collections.

grammar

A Smithsonian Institution Libraries Fact Sheet states that the "Smithsonian Institution Libraries", although a plural, is followed by a singular because it is used as a system of libraries, with individual locations under the aegis of centralized administration and compliance acting on a common mission is to be seen.

Web links

Commons : Smithsonian Institution Libraries  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

• Smithsonian Institution Libraries FAQ
• Smithsonian Institution Libraries Catalog
• Smithsonian Institution Libraries New Media Office
• Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board Membership List, 2009
• Galaxy of Images
• Internet Archive: Books from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries
• Association of Research Libraries: Celebrating research: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
• Librarians' Internet Index: Websites you can trust. Smithsonian Institution Libraries

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.sil.si.edu/Press/PDF/SILFactSheet.pdf
2. ^ Smithsonian Libraries: Strategic planning . Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
3. ↑ SIRIS-Smithsonian Institution Research Information System . Smithsonian Institution Research Information System. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
4. ^ Smithsonian Libraries: Locations . Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
5. ^ Smithsonian Institution Libraries: Museum Support Center Library . Retrieved September 14, 2009.
6. ^ Smithsonian reveals its hidden treasures . In: The Washington Times , August 16, 2007. Retrieved September 14, 2009. 
7. ↑ Kernan, Michael: A Real "Nation's Attic" . In: The Smithsonian , November 1997. Archived from the original on September 23, 2009 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 14, 2009.  
8. ↑ Museum Support Center (pdf) 2008–2009. Archived from the original on July 13, 2009. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 14, 2009. 
9. ^ Special Collections Department . Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Retrieved April 2, 2009.
10. ^ Special Collections Department . Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Retrieved April 2, 2009.
11. ↑ Special Collections | The Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology . Dibner Library. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
12. ^ Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History . Cullman Library. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
13. ^ Smithsonian Libraries: New Media Office . Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
14. ^ Smithsonian Libraries: Digital Library . Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
15. ^ Smithsonian Libraries . Smithsonianlibraries.si.edu. Archived from the original on March 20, 2009. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 5, 2009. 
16. ^ Smithsonian Libraries' Photostream . Flickr. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
17. ^ Smithsonian Libraries' Photostream . Twitter. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
18. ^ Smithsonian Libraries: Fellowship Opportunities . Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Retrieved March 5, 2009.