Niels Bohr Library & Archives: What’s In a [New] Name?
by Joe Anderson

While a rose may be a rose, a library isn’t an archive and vice versa. In January 2007 the Niels Bohr Library of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) adopted an expanded name: Niels Bohr Library & Archives—which reflects the reality of our work today. Back in 1962 when the Library was founded, it was designed as a repository for books and journals in the history of physics and allied fields. But in 1965 when the Library became part of the newly created AIP Center for History of Physics, it adopted an archival role that has expanded over time, albeit a new kind of archival program that supports and encourages other repositories in their work to document the history of physics, astronomy, geophysics, etc. (The archives has extensive holdings, primarily of the records of AIP and its Member Societies, along with some other papers and records for which a more appropriate home could not be found elswhere.) In mid 2006 the Niels Bohr Library was administratively separated from the Center for History of Physics as an independent division of the AIP, while sharing operations.

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