The US Geological Survey Library collection (Reston, VA; Flagstaff,
AZ; Denver, CO; Menlo Park, CA) is open to the public. We do not allow the
public to check out materials directly, but they can borrow most items
through inter-library loan. We supply full reference services to the
public, except we cannot expend commercial service funds on them, i.e., no
FirstSearch or Dialog searches. For these services, we send them to their
local public library. However, we do perform limited literature searches
for the public through many on-site databases and catalogs.
As the premier earth science collection, we are also open to the
world. We receive electronic reference requests through our Ask-A-Librarian
site at: http://www.usgs.gov/library, and have been answering reference
questions through overseas mail since at least the 1920's. There was a
period a few years ago when I was convinced my name was scrawled all over
the men's room at an Indian university, since we got so many letters from
their earth science department addressed directly to me. Perhaps it said
something like, "For a good read, call Mr. Hadden at..."
Since we are open to the public, we get research questions from
scientists, engineers and earth science students. This also means we get
our full share of children's homework questions, trivia requests, and
whacko inquiries. Because we have an unique call numbering system and over
12 miles of book shelves, we often have to take a first time patron to the
correct shelf. Some college students we have to escort to the correct
shelf, actually take down the book, and literally open it to the page where
they should start reading. Curiously, the Friday after Thanksgiving is
usually a pretty slack day in most libraries, but in our library this has
traditionally been one of the busiest. Many local students away at college
taking Geology 101 often wait until they come home for the holidays to do
their research at our facility, and then try to do a semester's work in
only one day.
We also get a number of "ask first" questions. Usually the
conversation begins with "I know you probably aren't the best place to come
to, but can you direct me to..." Most often they are correct- what they
want is a medical or space or transportation library instead. However, the
USGS library seems to be pretty easy to find, and many people for some
reason come to us first. I recently got a phone call from a family who had
discovered an 90 year old infant's gravestone sticking out of a riverbank
on their property. They didn't know if it had been washed down the river in
a flood, was over an actual grave, or if it was a miscellaneous stone or
perhaps a vandalized item. Among the family and friends there was much
argument and disagreement about the meaning and significance of the
gravestone, except they all agreed that the first place they should call is
the USGS Library. Yeah, "Who're ya gonna call?"
Lee Hadden
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R. Lee Hadden,
Reference Librarian
US Geological Survey
Mail Stop 950, National Center
Reston, VA 20192
TEL: (703) 648-6088
FAX: (703) 648-6373
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http://www.usgs.gov/library
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"The e-mail of the species is always more dangerous than the mail." -
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