The online catalog allows you to search and narrow results by "Item Type" which correspond to specific areas in our collections. This page will explain what those collections and "Item Types" are.
In the Simple Search Dropdown menu and in the Advanced Search Limits, there are three broad categories you can search by:
The additional subcategories are also available for more specific searches that correspond with some of the "item types" that are available as Filters in the search results page. What these types are and the collections they correspond to will be explained the the sections below.
Bolded Item Types represent features available as a search field in the Simple and Advanced Searches
Italics represent item types not available in the search bar, but are available as a filter later in the search results page.
General Collection: Use to narrow down to books located in the main stacks of the Niels Bohr Library & Archives, which are available for patrons to browse in person while at the library. The call numbers for these books follow the scheme explained here. This collection contains our Physics Textbook Collection (mainly in the N8 call number range), as well as modern books on the history of science.
General Collection*: Works older than 1920 that are now part of Special Collections, however are still physically located in the main stacks. Note: This is a temporary item type, and will be removed once they are moved to a more permanent location.
Reference Collection: Reference works, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias and scientific handbooks, which are on hand to facilitate research, located in both the Reading Room and the 4th floor Stacks.
NBLA's special collections contain books and journals published prior to 1920, as well as particularly rare, fragile, and historically significant works in the physical sciences. These books are available for researchers to consult on-site with staff assistance.
Search options include:
Special Collections books: Searches all of special collections (including item types Special Collections, Wenner Collection, and General Collection*)
Wenner Collection: Specifically searches a collection of over 3,000 rare books on the history of science acquired by the library in 2018.
Special Collections books excluding Wenner Collection: Searches NBLA's special collections holdings outside of the Wenner collection (e.g. just Special Collections and General Collection*)
Serials and Journals: A search function that includes periodicals in the Serials item type as well as journals and periodicals that are in other collections, such as Special Collections. NBLA holds mainly print runs of journals. We are also the official repository for journals published by the American Institute of Physics and hold complete runs for titles such as the American Journal for Physics, Low Temperature Physics, Physics of Fluids etc.
AIP Press Books: Conference proceedings and monographs published by AIP Publishing that are located in our AIP Press Archives. The Niels Bohr Library & Archives is a repository for AIP Publishing.
Some of NBLA's Library holdings are in non-print formats. These include:
Mircoform-NBL: Select rare books and journals are available in microfilm and microfiche formats. Many of the books are preservation scans of particularly fragile items.
Audio Visual Materials-NBL: The Library contains a few published audiobooks, CD-ROMs, and films in our Stacks collection. Most AV material however is located in our archives.
World Wide Web resource: a few items in our collection have purely electronic access, such as an archived webpage or CD-ROM
Archives General searches the Archives-NBL and Miscellaneous Physics item types, which encompass the traditional archival record collections that are held at the Niels Bohr Library & Archives. These include institutional records for AIP and its member societies, personal papers of scientists, correspondence, and other manuscript material.
Manuscript Biographies (MB) Unpublished memoirs, autobiographies, and biographies of scientists reflecting on their life and work in the physical sciences. Some are responses to surveys that are part of the AIP Center for the History of Physics documentation projects in the late 20th century.
Institutional Histories (IH) Short, often unpublished accounts and documents on the history and development of various scientific institutions and organizations.
Oral History Interviews - NBL (OH) Searches catalog records for oral history interviews conducted by and held at the AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives. Includes records for interviews conducted as part of the Archive for the History of Quantum Physics (AHQP).
Most of the interviews have transcripts available online (link will be provided in the catalog record, for full text searching of transcripts themselves use our oral history portal in our digital repository) and digitized audio available by request.
Please note that some oral histories may have access restrictions due to sensitive content and require additional permission to view or listen to. Additionally, some oral histories may not yet be digitized.
Audiovisual Materials (AV) : Searches individual audiovisual (AV) materials held in the History of Physics audio-visual collection (circa 1919-1996, 1960-1988 bulk) at the Niels Bohr Library & Archives. Includes audio tape recordings, video recordings, unpublished film footage, and 33 and 78 rpm disks. Tip: You can limit search results by format in both the Advanced Search and the limits in the search results.
Microforms (MI): As a deposit library for the Archive for the History of Quantum Physics (AHQP), we hold microfilm copies of all the manuscript collections in the microfilm inventory for that project. They can be identified in the catalog by the note "Microfilmed as part of the Archives for History of Quantum Physics (AHQP) project" and an AHQP inventory number in the call number. In addition, we hold various microforms (microfilm, microfiche, etc) of other archival collections and technical reports, which include copies of some collections held at other institutions.
World Wide Web Resources: Some of our archival materials are only available online, such as archived webpages.
ESVA Collections: A few photograph collections from the Emilio Segrè Visual Archives have records in the online catalog, however in general they are not documented in the catalog. To search our extensive photograph collection, please use our digital repository.
Archives Worldwide - International Catalog of Sources. The International Catalog of Sources (ICOS) allows you to search for archival collections related to the history of the physical sciences held at institutions around the world. Since the Niels Bohr Library & Archives' archival collections are part of ICOS, this search includes both collections held at NBLA (same as the Archives at NBLA search) and collections located at other repositories.
Use the item type filter ICOS-not NBL to limit and identify catalog records that describe an archival collection held at another repository. Our catalog records contain a description of the collection and a link to the finding aid, however to request information about or to view these materials you will need to contact the owning repository.
The Niels Bohr Library & Archives collections are part of the International Catalog of Sources (ICOS) which is why they are automatically included in this search. To search only for materials held by AIP NBLA, use either the Archives at NBLA search term or use the exclude function to remove items with the item type ICOS-not NBL from the search results. For explanation of the item types for NBLA Archives see the Archives at NBLA column.
