About Science Reference Services
About the Science, Technology and Business
Division
The Science, Technology and Business Division's primary responsibilities
are to provide reference and bibliographic services and to develop
the collections in all areas of science and technology (with the
exception of clinical medicine and technical agriculture, which are
subject specialties of the National
Library of Medicine and the National
Agricultural Library respectively) and business, management and
economics. Reference assistance and access to the Library's scientific
collection is provided in Science
Reference Services and access to the business, management
and economics collections is provided in Business
Reference Services.
The Technical Reports and Standards Special
Collection has an extensive collection of over 4.4 million
U.S. and foreign technical reports and standards. The Science,
Technology and Business Division Overview includes additional
information about the institutional origins of the Division, the Science
Tracer Bullet Series, and the strengths of the Library's scientific
collections.
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About
the Science Reading Room
The Science Reading Room is the public service access point for
the Library's scientific and technical materials as well as for the
division's 4.4 million technical reports, military standards, and
worldwide industrial standards. This reading room supports access
to information in all areas of science and technology including engineering,
mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, biology, medicine, earth
sciences, agriculture, military science, naval science, and much
more. The Library does not collect works on clinical medicine or
technical agriculture, which are the subject specialties of the National
Library of Medicine and the National Agricultural Library respectively.
The vast subject fields encompassed by the terms "science" and "technology" occupy
four extensive areas of the Library's classification system: Q (Science),
R (Medicine), S (Agriculture), and T (Technology). A number of other
scientific and technical disciplines are included in other classes,
such as parts of class B (Psychology), G (Geography, Oceanography,
Anthropology), H (Transportation, Drug Abuse, Alcoholism), N (Architecture),
U (Military Science), V (Naval Science), and Z (Library and Information
Science as well as bibliographies of scientific and technological
subjects).
Visitors to the Adams Building fifth floor will find the Science
Reading Room divided into three areas: The main reading area, the
Science Reference Alcove and the Business Reading Alcove. The Science
Reference Alcove located on the left side of the reading room as
you enter from the elevator area. Map
of the Adams Building Fifth Floor
The Science Reference Alcove reference desks where Science Reference
Librarians will help readers with their research. Also in the Alcove
are the reference
desk collection and computer workstations that are available
to readers. One can access the Library
of Congress Catalog, online Abstracts
and Indexes, and the Internet. All workstations are for research
purposes only. The online Abstracts and Indexes are available
only from the Library's premises. Several Abstracts
and Indexes in print form round out the collection.
Just
outside of the alcove is the current
journal collection, the dictionary
collection, and microform Reader/printers to use with for the
Technical Reports microform collection.
The Science reference
collection is located in the back of the main reading area of the Science
and Business Reading Room. It is comprised of definitive
works, frequently used references and the pamphlet collection.
Photo: The dictionary collection.
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