MLA '07: Philadelphia Libraries

Philadelphia, with its many universities, colleges, and cultural institutions, not surprisingly boasts a vast number of exceptional libraries. Listed below are a few that MLA ’07 attendees might find most interesting. Please be sure to call before visiting and to check the libraries’ Websites as noted below.

Academy of Natural Sciences, Ewell Sale Stewart Library
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215.299.1040
www.ansp.org

The library and archives were established at the founding meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences in 1812 to support the academy's work. The library's primary clients are staff members of the Academy of Natural Sciences. Other clients include academy members, scientists, historians, artists, graduate students, corporations, and members of the public with advanced interests in the natural world. The library is located on the second floor of the Academy of Natural Sciences museum. Appointments to visit and use the library are required in advance.

AIDS Library
1233 Locust Street, 2nd Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215.985.4851
www.aidslibrary.org

The AIDS Library serves the community through delivery of information on HIV, such as treatment and history of the pandemic, and referrals to regional and national resources. This information is provided through a variety of media including books, periodicals, medical journals, videos, audio cassettes, and the Internet. The library provides free computer access to the library’s online resources, the library catalog, the Internet, and word processing and offers one-to-one computer tutorials.

Albert Einstein Medical Center, Alexander and Herbert Luria Library
5501 Old York Road
Philadelphia, PA 19141
215.456.6345
www.einstein.edu/education/libraries/

The Albert Einstein Medical Center is a teaching hospital providing a full range of major health services including a regional trauma center and neonatal intensive care. The Department of Library Services consists of the Alexander and Herbert Luria Memorial Library and the Hassel Family Microcomputer Laboratory. The library and its resources serve the patient care, education, and research needs of the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network's staff and students.

American Philosophical Society Library
105 South Fifth Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215.440.3400
www.amphilsoc.org/library/

As the country’s first learned society, this organization’s library collection includes the papers of Lewis and Clark and materials on the history of US science and culture, natural sciences, publications of scientific and learned societies of the world, Native American linguistics, history of genetics, electricity, Darwin and evolution, colonial and revolutionary pamphlets, quantum physics, and Thomas Paine.

Athenaeum
219 South Sixth Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215.925.2688
www.philaathenaeum.org

The Athenaeum is a member-supported, not-for-profit special collections library founded in 1814 to collect materials “connected with the history and antiquities of America, and the useful arts, and generally to disseminate useful knowledge” for public benefit. The research library is open to qualified readers, by appointment, without charge, and membership is not required to gain access. The Athenaeum provides the Philadelphia region with a resource of first resort on matters of architecture and interior design history, particularly for the period of 1800–1945.

Chemical Heritage Foundation,
Donald F. and Mildred Topp Othmer Library of Chemical History
315 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215.873.8271
www.chemheritage.org/library/library.html

This library’s impressive collection covers the history of the chemical and molecular sciences, technologies, and industries, from the 15th through 20th centuries. It contains many rare volumes originating from individual donations, bequests, and purchases.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Main Building, 9th Floor, Room 9546
34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215.590.2317
www.chop.edu/hc_professionals/med_library.shtml

Currently rated the best pediatric hospital in the country by Child Magazine and U.S.News & World Report, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation’s first hospital exclusively for very young patients. The medical library is primarily for staff and students but would be happy to have visitors from MLA ’07.

Christiana Care Health System, Lewis B. Flinn Library
4755 Ogletown-Stanton Road
Newark, DE 19718
302.733.1115
www.christianacare.org/cancerlibrary/ or
www.christianacare.org/healthlibrary/

College of Physicians of Philadelphia
19 South 22nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215.563.3737
www.collphyphil.org

Founded in 1787, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia is not an academic organization, but a not-for-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of medicine and the roles of the physician in contemporary society. Its library services include the Historical Medical Library and the Consumer Health Information Center.

Delaware Academy of Medicine, Gail P. Gill Consumer Health Library
4765 Ogletown Stanton Road
Newark, DE 19713
302.733.1122
www.delamed.org/gp_gill.html

The new Lewis B. Flinn Library is located in the John H. Ammon Medical Education Center on the campus of Christiana Hospital, Christiana Care Health System. This 24/7 clinical library provides resources and services for staff working on the Christiana Hospital campus as well as electronic resources to all of the Christiana Care Health System . The new space includes twenty-five computer workstations, two quiet study rooms, a teaching/reference classroom, carrels, and casual seating. Display areas for historical medical artifacts are managed by the Delaware Academy of Medicine (DAM). Notable is a framed, life-size, hand-colored scroll of the human body detailing the nerves dating from the late 1800s. Also managed by DAM is the Gail P. Gill Consumer Health Library in Christiana Hospital, the largest hospital in the state.

Drexel University Health Sciences Libraries, Hahnemann Library
245 North 15th Street, 1st and 2nd floors
Philadelphia, PA 19102
215.762.7631

Queen Lane Library
2900 Queen Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19129
215.991.8740

www.library.drexel.edu/healthsciences/defaultHS.html

The Hahnemann Library supports the curricula of Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, College of Medicine, and School of Public Health and includes materials in clinical medicine and basic science. The Queen Lane Library houses materials to meet the educational needs of students in the first two years of medical school and the research needs of a number of basic science departments.

Fox Chase Cancer Center, Talbot Research Library
333 Cottman Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19111
215.728.2711
www.fccc.edu/library/talbot/

The Talbot Research Library supports the clinical and research staff of the Fox Chase Cancer Center, one of the nation's first comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute in 1974. Fox Chase conducts basic and clinical research; programs for prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer; and community outreach. The library’s online and print collection focuses on molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, biochemistry, and neoplasia. The library is currently undergoing a complete renovation including construction of new staff offices and a training/conference room.

Free Library of Philadelphia, Central Library
1901 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215.686.5322
www.library.phila.gov

Chartered in 1891, the Free Library of Philadelphia now has fifty-four branches and more than seven million items. The Central Library (main branch) is halfway between the Pennsylvania Convention Center and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Historical Society of Pennsylvania
1300 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215.732.6200
www.hsp.org

This library recently incorporated the collection of the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, which documents the ethnic and immigrant experience in the United States since 1877. Basic holdings cover the economic, social, political, and family history of the middle colonies and states from the 1650s to the present and includes the papers of William Penn and James Buchanan.

Jenkins Law Library
833 Chestnut East, Suite 1220
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215.574.7900
www.jenkinslaw.org

Jenkins, America’s first law library, has been providing information for the Philadelphia legal community for over two hundred years. Resources in the Jenkins legal collection focus primarily on materials for the practicing attorney and the general public and range from the US first books on constitutional law to the latest Internet and information services.

The Library Company
1314 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215. 546.3181
www.librarycompany.org

The Library Company of Philadelphia is an independent library that focuses on early Americana. It includes thousands of volumes, graphics, and manuscripts for all lovers of US history. Founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, it served as the library of Congress from the Revolutionary War to 1800. All of the books that the Library Company acquired, year by year, over more than two and a half centuries are still on its shelves.

Pennsylvania Hospital Medical Library
800 Spruce Street
3 Pine Center
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215.829.3370
www.uphs.upenn.edu/pahedu/library/

Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital, was founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Bond. The collections of its medical library include the Clinical Library, the Psychiatric Library, and the Historic Library and Historic Collections.

Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, O. J. Snyder Memorial Library
Evans Hall
4170 City Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19131
215.871.6470
www.pcom.edu/Library/library.html

Philadelphia, a city renowned for medical education, boasts five medical schools, only one of which is osteopathic. While the primary mission of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine is to train students to become physicians who are guided by the strengths of osteopathic principles, it also hosts numerous non-osteopathic academic programs (e.g., clinical psychology, counseling, physician assistant studies, and forensic medicine). The library provides information resources to support the educational, research, and clinical activities of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

QVC Library
1200 Wilson Drive
West Chester, PA 19380
484.701.1000
www.qvc.com

Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel, founder of the Franklin Mint, QVC is the world’s preeminent electronic retailer, renowned for its televised shopping service. Its library collection covers telecommunications, electronic commerce, marketing, cable television, broadcasting, consumer behavior, and retailing.

Rosenbach Museum and Library
2008 Delancey Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215.732.1600
www.rosenbach.org/home/home.html

The Rosenbach Museum and Library was the home of two brothers who collected rare books, manuscripts, and fine and decorative arts. The incredible collection includes manuscripts for James Joyce’s’ Ulysses and Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers, as well as thousands of drawings and manuscripts by children’s author and illustrator Maurice Sendak.

Temple University Libraries, Samuel L. Paley Library
1210 West Berks Street
Philadelphia, PA 19122
215.204.0744
www.library.temple.edu

Health Sciences Center Libraries, Kresge Library
3440 North Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19124
215.707.2665
eclipse.hsclib.temple.edu

School of Podiatric Medicine, Charles E. Krausz Library
8th and Race Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215.625.5275
podiatry.temple.edu/departments/departments.html#library

The Temple University Libraries system includes sixteen university libraries, six information centers, and two international libraries. Noteworthy among the Health Sciences Center Libraries are the Kresge Library and the Charles E. Krausz Library at Temple’s School of Podiatric Medicine.

Thomas Jefferson University
Scott Memorial Library
1020 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215.503.2477
jeffline.jefferson.edu/SML/

Thomas Jefferson University’s Scott Memorial Library is named for Samuel Parsons Scott, who claimed to have been cured of a chronic respiratory ailment by a Jefferson Medical College professor. Scott bequeathed his large personal library, along with an endowment, to Jefferson, and the library was dedicated to him in 1931. Today, the Scott Memorial Library includes 210,000 bound volumes, over 2,600 current serials, and more than 1,800 audiovisual items and serves the university, its hospitals, and affiliates. JEFFLINE, the library’s Web interface, provides a wealth of resources to the Jefferson community.

University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library
3420 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215.898.7555
www.library.upenn.edu/vanpelt/

Biomedical Library
36th and Hamilton Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215.898.5817
www.library.upenn.edu/biomed/

Dental Medicine Library
Evans Building
240 South 40th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215.898.8969
www.library.upenn.edu/dental/

Veterinary Medicine Library (Steven W. Atwood Library and Information Commons)
Vernon and Shirley Hill Pavilion Buildings
380 South University Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215.898.8895
www.library.upenn.edu/vet/

The University of Pennsylvania Library system encompasses fifteen individual academic libraries. Founded over 250 years ago, the system includes the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Rare Book and Manuscript Library as well as libraries dedicated to biomedicine, dentistry, and veterinary science, among other disciplines. Noteworthy, in addition to the state-of-the-art Van Pelt Library, is the new Veterinary Medicine Library.

University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Joseph W. England Library
4200 Woodland Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215.596.8960
www.usip.edu/library/

The Joseph W. England Library is a small but specialized collection, particularly strong in pharmacy, pharmacognosy, pharmaceutics, and foreign drug compendia. Other areas of specialization include toxicology, pharmacology, and physical and occupational therapy.

Wills Eye Hospital, Charles D. Kelman Library
840 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215.928.3288
www.willseye.org/physicians/library/

The Charles D. Kelman Library serves the Wills Eye community with a variety of resources, ranging from a French treatise on eye conditions published in 1722 and a 1772 volume by Joseph Priestley to access to current electronic journals, texts, and databases. The library’s collection consists of more than 10,000 volumes, including bound periodicals, reference titles, ophthalmology textbooks, and materials of historical interest.

Wistar Institute Library
3601 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215.898.3816
www.wistar.org/research_facilities/facilities/wistarlibrary/library.htm

Providing information services to research faculty, visiting scientists, staff, and students working at the Wistar Institute is the primary mission of the library. Active support of the research and educational goals of the institute directs all library collections, policies, and services. To that end, the library’s collections and services are structured around the current research activities of the scientific staff.

For further information, contact Linda M. G. Katz, AHIP, at lk32@drexel.edu, Karen M. Albert, AHIP, at km_albert@fccc.edu, Robert Cagna at cagna@mail.med.upenn.edu, or Gina Kaiser at g.kaiser@usip.edu.