Excerpt:
Established in 1879 to build and organize a collection of scientific materials in the earth sciences, the U.S. Geological Survey Library is now the largest library for earth sciences in the world. The library system includes four libraries and is part of the Geographic Information Office of the USGS.
Annotation:
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Library is the largest earth science library in the world. The library serves the research needs of USGS scientists throughout the nation and provides information to other organizations and individuals in the areas of geology, hydrology, cartography, biology, and related fields. USGS libraries are located in Reston, Virginia; Denver, Colorado; Menlo Park, California; and Flagstaff, Arizona. The site provides search engines for the library catalogue, USGS and other government maps, and the USGS minerals collection. Special Collections include field notes, photographs, sketches, logs, reports and maps dating from 1879. The page is broken down into useful sub-pages and is easily navigated.