The John G. Wolbach Library combines the collections of the Harvard College Observatory (HCO) Library and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) Library, forming one of the world’s preeminent astronomical collections. The joint collection is known as the John G. Wolbach Library at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
The principal subject areas contained within the Wolbach Library collection include astrophysics and related topics in physics, chemistry, applied mathematics, geophysics, and engineering. The Wolbach Library serves the research and technical support staff of the CfA, scientists and students of the Astronomy and other departments of Harvard University, scientists from many universities and colleges in the Boston area and around the world.
The Wolbach Library provides access to information in a variety of forms to CfA staff by building, organizing, managing, housing, and preserving collections; by offering reference services and consultation; by providing services in online literature searches, and interlibrary loan requests; by employing all appropriate technologies for finding and disseminating information; and by contributing to and drawing from remote databases, including the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS). The Wolbach Library participates in local, national, and international networks and cooperative activities which promote the sharing of information, access to recorded knowledge, and the support and advancement of scholarly communication.
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1848
- Harvard College Observatory Collection
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1848 |
The Harvard College Observatory collection began as the result of the tradition of exchange of scholarly works with the other observatories in the mid-1800s, and expanded further as commercially published materials became available. |
- Harvard College Library
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1848 |
The Harvard College Library was established as the Phillips Library, named for E. B. Phillips. |
1955
- SAO and HCO
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1955Signed collaboration between The Harvard College Observatory and the Smithsonian Astronomical Observatory.
1956
- SAO moves to HCO
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1956The Smithsonian Astronomical Observatory moves to the Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- John G. Wolbach Fund
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1956
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John G. Wolbach Fund established to benefit the Observatory. |
1959
- SAO Library formed
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1959The Smithsonian Astrophysical Library dates back to about 1959, when items were selected from the collection of astronomical material in Washington, DC and moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1969
- Joyce Watson, SAO Librarian
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1969
Joyce Rey Watson (1922-2001) served as librarian of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Library from 1969 until her retirement in 1991 and was instrumental in the eventual merging of this facility with the Center for Astrophysics Library, thus creating one of the largest astronomy libraries in the world.
Joyce was on the "ground-floor"' of many bibliographic and professional advances of the final quarter of the twentieth century. She was an early member of the Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics Division of the Special Libraries Association, an attendee and presenter at the first LISA conference in 1988, a "force" for providing access to the SIMBAD database to US astronomers, and a partner with the developers of the Astrophysics Data System from its earliest days in the 1990s. One of Joyce's greatest contributions was her recognition of the importance of introducing new techniques and technologies to professional astronomers, and she was a familiar sight at meetings of the American Astronomical Society as she demonstrated the capabilities of SIMBAD and later of the ADS.
© Copyright 2003 U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, DC, USA
http://www.eso.org/sci/libraries/lisa/lisa4/dedication.html
1971
- Library named
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1971
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At a meeting of the President and Fellows of Harvard College in Cambridge, September 13, 1971
Voted, on the recommendation of the Director of the Harvard College Observatory, that the Library in the newly-constructed Perkins Building be named as designated by John G. Wolbach....
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1973
- CFA formed
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1973Center for Astrophysics formed with appointment of George B. Field as joint Director (Harvard College President and Fellows signed document).
1975
- HCO & SAO merge
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1975
In 1975, the two libraries, which had been housed in separate parts of the Observatory, were merged into the Wolbach Library in the Perkin Building.
1985
- Committee formed
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1985Irwin Shapiro, CfA Director, establishes committee led by Head of MIT Libraries, Jay Lucker, to provide recommendations towards creating a more seamless CfA Library.
1990
- Governance recommendations
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1990Robert Hoffman, Director of Natural History Museum, sends letter on governance of CfA Library [Guidance influenced by Jay Lucker report, advice from Wolbach Librarians, Cabot Librarian Alan Erickson letter explaining benefits of incorporating SAO/CfA acquisitions and cataloguing into HOLLIS]:
- Single CfA Librarian, jointly appointed, supervised by CfA Director; establishment of search committee, board
- SAO holdings/records merged with HCO's into HOLLIS (physical collections integrated)
- Legal title of items in collection remain with Smithsonian Institution and Harvard College Observatory, respectively
- 3 year term, experiment with new structure
1992
- Collections merge
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1992In 1992, the administration of the HCO and SAO collections was merged under one director and staff.
1994
- Recommendations feedback
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1994Letter from Donna Coletti, Head of CfA Library, to Irwin Shapiro regarding new governance, focusing primarily on closer collaboration with the Harvard University Library.
2010
- New Head Librarian
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2010
Christopher Erdmann is hired as Head Librarian. The Library expands its collaboration with the NASA ADS and explores its new data science role.
2013
- Unified Astronomy Thesaurus (UAT)
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2013The American Institute of Physics (AIP) and IOP Publishing (IOP) jointly announce the gift of a new astronomy thesaurus called the Unified Astronomy Thesaurus (UAT) to the American Astronomical Society (AAS) that will help improve future information discovery for researchers. Further development of the UAT will be undertaken by the John G. Wolbach Library at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in collaboration with the Astrophysics Data System (ADS) and the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA) to enhance and extend the thesaurus to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of the astronomy community.
2015
- Wolbach launches a new website
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2015Wolbach Library's new website, built on Harvard's OpenScholar Platform, provides online access to its many services including ILL/Document Delivery/Ask a Librarian, Collaboration Space, Visual Astronomy Display, Technology to Explore, Research Tools, and more.
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