To View the Book List online, click on the link below
You can type in a search term to filter the list, click the row for more information, and follow links to the openlibrary.org website for even more information. Some of the older books have even been scanned in by other libraries and can be read on-line.
To check out a book
To check out a book, send an email to librarian@richastro.org with the following information at least 4 days before a RAS monthly meeting and I can bring it to the next meeting at the Science Museum:
- Title, author, publish date of book
- Or enter the ID # of the book
- Your name
- Your phone number
To return a book, just physically bring it to a RAS meeting at the Science Museum.
For those with key access to the Observatory, I will soon be placing a check-out book in the Observatory to record checkouts..
In the event I’m out-of-town for a monthly meeting, checkouts and returns will just have to wait for the following month.
Where the books came from
All the RAS books were donated – most from estates of former members and some from currently active members. Since RAS was founded back in 1949, the founding members “became of age” for astronomy back in the 1930s or 1940’s (or earlier) so there is nice historical collection of older books from their collections. The publish dates of the books range from 1826 up to the present. Most of the books are about astronomy but there are a few about other aspects of science. There are also a number about space craft – Apollo missions and others. There are some manuals from various equipment manufacturers or the military. There are books from famous scientists as well as popular science writers. There are even some books or pamphlets by current club members. Although some aspects of astronomy are more “cutting edge”, other aspects are just as relevant as written 100 years ago as they are today.
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