The Demography Library, located in Maxcy Hall, is the newest branch of the Brown University Library system. The Library had its beginnings in the early 1960's, when the Sociology Department, in developing a survey of Rhode Island, accumulated books on population-related subjects. In 1965, the Population Studies and Training Center was organized in official recognition of the survey. A year later, a National Institute of Health grant was received for support of population studies. A Ford Foundation grant that followed included money for acquisition of library materials. With the addition of a legacy of a deceased student's book collection, a small library had begun to grow. This library was initially housed in one room of Lower Lincoln Field Hall. Over time United States and United Nations documents were acquired for population researchers and many books were donated to the collection by faculty and students.
Today, the Library is housed in five rooms on the third floor of Maxcy Hall, and includes a circulating collection, reference books, journals, working papers of other institutions' population centers, publications of international organizations, and foreign government documents.
Josiah provides online access to the Library's imprints from the 1990's, publications by Brown University authors, and reference books. The Demography Library has its own local database which accesses about 14,000 records for older and ephemeral material. Access to the Brown University Library's Electronic Reference Desk is available, as well as gateways to other information sources.
The primary clientele is Brown faculty and graduate students, but the Library does accept queries from outside
researchers. Staff includes Anne K. Ilacqua, Head, and Carol L. Knopf, Assistant Head. The Library hours are
Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; telephone, 863-2371 or 1863. -A.I.