Reference librarians can:

• look up definitions, facts, formulas and other information about science and technology.
• help with the use of our catalog, databases, and indexes.
• confirm our holdings.
• explain procedures and policies for circulation and use of materials.
• teach you how to use the library either on an individual basis or via prearranged tours and education programs.
• refer you to the appropriate department when necessary.

For more extensive research, use our search service.

Contact Reference

Use our online form to ask Reference Services Staff a question.

• Phone: 800-662-1545 or in the Kansas City area at 816-926-8764
  Phone service is available all hours that the library is open.
• Fax: 816-926-8782
• Via e-mail

Use the Ask Linda Hall Service

Ask Linda Hall is an email reference service designed to help secondary level students with science related questions and research. Send your questions anytime to asklindahall@lindahall.org. Telephone reference help is also available. Please call 1-800-662-1545, or 816-363-5020.

Students are also welcome to visit the library in person to receive personal research assistance. If you would like to make an appointment for individualized assistance, please send your request to asklindahall@lindahall.org or call 816-926-8725.

Reference Guides

Use these guides for more in-depth help with some of the frequently asked topics and more complex resources in the library.

Guide #1: History of Science and Technology
Guide #2: Units, Dimensions, Conversions and Formulas
Guide #3: Beilsteins Handbuch der Organischen Chemie

Additional Reference Services:

Circulation
Patents and Trademarks Program
Education Program/Tours
Standards and Specifications
Science & Engineering Databases
Affiliates and Member Organizations
Peirce Studies

Papers by Reference Librarians

Scott Curtis

• Finding ASME Technical Papers (Slides) - American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, June 23, 2008.

Eliseo Fernández

• Information and Ersatz Reality: Comments on Albert Borgmann's Holding On to Reality. Eliseo Fernández, Techné 6:1 Fall 2002.
• SYMMETRY: Key to Nature and Natural Philosophy. Review of: Katherine Brading and Elena Castellani (eds.), Symmetries in Physics: Philosophical Reflections. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Pp. xii + 445.
• Complexity and Peircean Relationism. Second Biennial Seminar on the Philosophical, Epistemological, and Methodological Implications of Complexity Theory. Havana, Cuba, January 2004.
• Signs, Instruments and Self-Reference in Biosemiotics. Seventh Annual International Gatherings in Biosemiotics, University of Groningen, Netherlands, June 6-9, 2007.
• Biosemiotics and Survival: Life and Death, Genes and Signals. 32nd Annual Meeting of the Semiotic Society of America. New Orleans, Louisiana, October 2007.
• Biosemiotics from Peirce to Rosen - Eighth Annual International Gatherings in Biosemiotics, University of the Aegean, Syros, Greece, June 23-28, 2008
• Peirce in 21st Century Science and Philosophy: New Prospects (English Language)
  Peirce en la Ciencia y la Filosofía del Siglo XXI: Nuevas Oportunidades (Spanish Language) - III Jornadas "Peirce en Argentina" (Third Congress "Peirce in Argentina") Buenos Aires, Argentina , September 11-12, 2008.

Michelle Lahey and Eric Ward

• If The Library Brand is 'Books' - Why Not Read a Few? - Bringing Nonfiction Book Discussion to the Special Library - Special Libraries' Association Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, Tuesday, June 17 2008