SD 600 is moving from a bulky collection of both policy and 

 procedures to a succinct policy issuance supported by an 

 implementation manual. 



Smithsonian Institution Libraries 



Nancy E. Gwinn, Director 



The Smithsonian Institution Libraries established the 

 Wineland Research Library Endowment on October 29, 1997, 

 in conjunction with the Charlotte and Lloyd Wineland Collec- 

 tion of Native American and Exploration Literature. Income 

 from the endowment will support study and research, as well 

 as acquisitions and preservation of the collections. The 

 Wineland Collection of 48 titles contains a number of gems, 

 including the first edition of Prince Maximilian's beautifully 

 illustrated Reise in des lnnere Nord-Amerwa in denjabren 1832 bis 

 1834 (1939-41), several rare items published between 1812 and 

 1891, and Theodor de Bry's seminal sixteenth<enrury three- 

 volume work that formed the basis for identification of North 

 American Indians for centuries, and three works published in 

 the twentieth century. One of the latter volumes was dis- 

 played in the Libraries' exhibition "Frontier Photographer 

 Edward S. Curtis" (September 1998— September 1999), on view 

 in the Libraries gallery (located in the National Museum of 

 American History). 



The Libraries appointed curators of rare books for two rare- 

 book libraries this year. Leslie Overstreet was made Curaror of 

 Natural History Rare Books on October 1 and will be the 

 librarian of the new Natural History Rare Book Library, now 

 under construction and expecced to open in 2000. Ronald 

 Brashear was appointed Curator of Science and Technology 

 Rare Books on June 1 and serves researchers working in the 

 Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology. 

 Both Ms. Overstreet and Mr. Brashear are in the Libraries' Spe- 

 cial Collections Department. 



The Libraries began offering a number of research materials 

 online this year. The Libraries home page (.wuru-.sil.si.edu/) now 

 carries the full-text contents of more than 175 science, 

 medicine, and technical journals that are available to 

 Smithsonian staff on their personal computers. The branch 

 library home pages contain a variety of other subject-specialized 

 databases for in-house researchers and for the general public. 



To facilitate research in published literature about African 

 art, the Libraries has entered information about more than 

 18,000 books, articles, reviews, and catalogs in the Libraries 

 online catalog, which is accessible on the Internet 

 (wwwjiris.si.edu/). The success of this effort is measured by the 

 increasing number of interlibrary loan requests (45 to 65 

 monthly) for copies of these African art articles that are 

 received by the National Museum of African Art branch. 

 Funded by the Getty Grant Program, the online index will 



eventually include more than 28,000 records through the 

 Libraries' catalog. Additions to the African art index, which 

 was created by Librarian Janet L. Stanley in 1980, will be 

 made as new literature is published. 



To promote the preservation and accessibility of research 

 materials, the Smithsonian Institution Libraries in coopera- 

 tion with the Research Libraries Group (RLG) cohosted a 

 three-day digital imaging workshop for library and informa- 

 tion professionals and specialists, archivists, curators, and 

 preservation administrators on "Managing Digital Imaging 

 Projects." This October 27-29, 1997, workshop was the first of 

 three on the topic, including one scheduled to be held in the 

 United Kingdom. The Smithsonian Institution Libraries par- 

 ticipates in the RLG Preservation Program, and several 

 Smithsonian museums and archives are members of RLG. 



To foster interest in the history of the Smithsonian, the 

 Smithsonian Institution Libraries launched an online version 

 of its I50rh-anmversary exhibition, "From Smithson to 

 Smithsonian: The Birth of an Institution," with lesson plans 

 for grade 9-12 history classes prepared by the Smithsonian 

 Office of Education. Providing full-text documents from 

 Smithson s scienrific articles and his will, as well as newspaper 

 accounts of the debates leading to the Institution's estab- 

 lishment, and Joseph Henry's "Programme" and accounts of 

 Spencer Baird's administration, the online show has won 

 praise for its "music, images, pertinent text and clean design." 



The Libraries brought three researchers to work in the Dib- 

 ner Library of the History of Science and Technology this year. 

 Sixteen researchers have been funded since The Dibner Fund 

 began providing resources for the Smithsonian Institution 

 Libraries Dibner Library Resident Scholar Program in 1992. 

 Sarah Lowengard of the State University of New York, Stony 

 Brook, srudied color theory in the eighteenth century and its 

 practical applications in the fields of textile dyes, ceramic 

 glazes, and painters' colors for oils and watercolors. Harry Kit- 

 sikopoulos, New York University and New York Institute of 

 Technology, researched the diffusion of steam engines and the 

 timing of the British Industrial Revolution, 1770-1870. Shan- 

 non Allen Brown, Universicy of California Santa Cruz, worked 

 toward completing his research on the U.S. military's uses of 

 electricity and its effects in shaping the modem infrastruc- 

 ture, using the Dibner Library's distinguished collection in 

 the history of electricity. 



Two distinguished professors discussed their research in 

 public lectures this year sponsored by the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion Libraries and funded by The Dibner Fund. Henry Petros- 

 ki of Duke University, author of The Pencil and To Engineer is 

 Human, spoke on "Pencils, Paperclips, and Invention" on 

 November 18. The 1998 Dibner Library Lecture was delivered 

 by Harvard University's Professor of the History of Science 

 and Women's Studies Katharine Park who spoke on "Visible 

 Women: Anatomical Illustration and Human Dissection in 

 Renaissance Italy" on May 20. The Dibner Fund has sup- 

 ported annual lectures in the History of Science and Technol- 

 ogy since 1992. 



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