Library
The Niels Bohr Library & Archives at the American Institute of Physics is a preeminent institution that serves as a global repository and academic resource. The library features countless publications of great historic importance to the legacy of physics, astronomy, geophysics and allied fields. Your gift supports the important effort of preserving this history and expanding the collection of original works and archives.
Niels Bohr Library & Archives Annual Fund
Gifts made to the Niels Bohr Library & Archives Annual Fund provide direct support to the library’s operations. Your generosity affords the library staff a degree of flexibility to respond to unexpected programmatic and logistical needs as they arise. A central goal of the library is not only to acquire and steward great works and collections, but to make them available to the world through digitization and online access.
The Rare Book Acquisition Fund
This fund provides the library with resources to procure rare books and publications that are of historical or academic significance. The current collection includes an impressive collection of textbooks, monographs and related publications; over 30,000 photographs and other images; over 1,500 oral histories; and archival records of AIP and its Member Societies along with other archival records and personal papers of noted scientists. Periodically, our librarians identify a work of great renown as a welcome prospective addition to the collection. Such opportunities are infrequent, and competition with other libraries or private collectors can elevate the price or risk our ability to act in time to place a bid for a new item in a timely manner. A gift to the Rare Book Acquisition Fund helps the Niels Bohr Library & Archives act nimbly and deftly when an opportunity to expand the collection arises.
The Rare Book Conservation and Preservation Fund
After rare and historically significant works have been acquired and incorporated into the Niels Bohr Library & Archives collection, it is critically important that librarians properly care for these items. Whether addressing the preservation and storage of works published in the sixteenth century or finding ways to conserve or restore works at risk of deterioration the library staff strives to maintain and protect these cherished artifacts and publications for future generations. Gifts to support this work are needed to ensure the care and longevity of these many academic and historic treasures so that future generations may also have access to them in their original form.
The Adopt-a-Book Program
Books in the Niels Bohr Library & Archives rare books collection contain a broad spectrum of topics related to the history of the physical sciences, as well as offering compelling visuals. You can support library maintenance, conservation, and care of these fascinating titles by adopting one of our collection's rare volumes.
You or your family will be commemorated as the official adopter of the book in the online catalog as well as on a bookmark inside the volume. Your gift will help to preserve these vital works of science history and your gift will be applied to the Rare Book Conservation and Preservation Fund as a way to ensure that the book you adopt, and others like it, are sustained for generations to come.