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The CIA Library is a
library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
available only to
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
personnel, contains approximately 125,000
book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physi ...
s and archives of about 1,700
periodical A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also example ...
s. Many of its information resources are available via its Digital Library, which include CD-ROMs and web-based resources.


History

The library was created in 1947. During the Hungarian Revolution, the CIA librarian reviewed tapes of broadcasts by
Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
two other Hungarian speakers who worked for the agency, and provided answers to questions posed by the Agency's International Organization Division. In later years, names of two librarians would be revealed: Alexander Toth who worked as a librarian in the 1950s, and Evelyn C. Chen, who received a masters degree in library science from
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, working as a librarian from 1961 to 1972. In 1994, Harold Weisberg told CIA Director R. James Woolsey that a librarian that used to work at Hood College had once worked for the Agency as a librarian. In February 1997, three librarians working at the institution spoke to '' Information Outlook'', a publication of the
Special Libraries Association The Special Libraries Association (SLA) is an international professional association for library and information professionals working in business, government, law, finance, non-profit, and academic organizations and institutions. History The S ...
(SLA), noted the importance of the library in disseminating information to employees, even with a small staff, and how the library organizes its materials. Also availabl
here
/ref> Peggy Tuten, chief of the CIA library from 1999 to 2006, revealed in 2020 that staff at the library were some of the first users of the internet, in 1999, at the Agency. She also noted that in 2001 the library moved from being part of the Directorate of Intelligence to under the
Foreign Broadcast Information Service The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) was an open source intelligence component of the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Science and Technology. It monitored, translated, and disseminated within the U.S. government openly ...
, a subdivision of the Agency's Directorate of Science and Technology, annoying staff. Tuten also noted that following 9/11, the library was renovated as the Agency began to hire new staff, and that she left the library in 2006 to join the
Open Source Center The Open Source Enterprise (OSE) is a United States Government organization dedicated to open-source intelligence that was established by Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Open Source (ADDNI/OS), Eliot A. Jardines. They prov ...
of the Director of National Intelligence. In later years she recruited students in library schools to join the Agency for their careers. In August 2000, Kimberley W. Condas of library was awarded the 2000 International Special Librarians Day (ISLD) Award, which is given to a member, or members, of the SLA who use the International Special Librarians Day to "promote their own libraries and the profession." Condas chaired a committee which promoted ISLD to Agency employees, with more than 500 attending the event. In May 2007, it was reported that the Agency was looking for "trained, innovative, customer-service oriented librarians" who knew East Asian, Chinese, and
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
, and had various library skills. In March 2016 it was reported that the Agency was hiring a librarian, with a salary of "$50,864 to $118,069 a year," which would serve as embedded "information experts" within the Agency. The job notice also stated that librarians play an important part in "intelligence gathering and managing CIA materials." In a April 2019
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
thread, the Agency said they had full-time librarians, with library cards only available to those with
security clearances A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information (state or organizational secrets) or to restricted areas, after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is ...
. An accompanying blog post said that the library might appear like modern public libraries, but has a mostly declassified collection, even with DVDs of " spy movies and documentaries," and noted that some librarians are even recruited by other parts of the Agency due to their research and
information science Information science (also known as information studies) is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval, movement, dissemination, and protection of informatio ...
skills. In April 2020, the Agency promoted the library's resources during National Library Week, noting the roles of libraries at the CIA, sharing declassified and unclassified resources about the Agency.
American Libraries ''American Libraries'' is the flagship magazine of the American Library Association (ALA). About ''American Libraries'' was first published in 1970 as a continuation of the long-running ''ALA Bulletin,'' which had served as the Association’s ...
, the flagship magazine of the
American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...
, entitled a post "Find the CIA Library at your place," quoting and linking to the Agency's post. In May 2021, an unnamed
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
librarian, who worked for the library, was shown in a recruitment video for the Agency.


Collections

The Library maintains three collections: Reference, Circulating, and Historical Intelligence. New material for these collections is selected around current intelligence objectives and priorities. The reference collection includes core research tools such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, commercial directories, atlases, diplomatic lists, and foreign and domestic
phone book A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into ele ...
s. CD-ROMs and extensive commercial database services round out the collection. At one time, the CREST, otherwise known as the Central Intelligence Agency's Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room, was under the library, along with other historical publications, and current ones like
The World Factbook ''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is availabl ...
. In 1994, the collection was described as a "centralized library reference file," with documents retained in paper and microform. The circulating collection consists of monographs,
newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports ...
, and journals. Many information resources, such as CD-ROMs and web-based resources, are available to customers via the Digital Library. The library also participates in inter-library loans of circulating items with other domestic libraries. The Historical Intelligence Collection is primarily an open-source library dedicated to the collection, retention, and exploitation of material dealing with the intelligence profession. Currently there are over 25,000 books and an extensive collection of press clippings on that subject. This likely includes documents which detail the "CIA's role in Indochina during the Vietnam War," and about the launching of Sputnik.


See also

* The Library of National Intelligence, part of the CIA's
A-Space The United States Intelligence Community A-Space, or Analytic Space, is a project started in 2007 from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's (ODNI) Office of Analytic Transformation and Technology to develop a common collaborative ...
project


References


Further reading

* *


External links


Official page on Central Intelligence Agency website
{{Authority control
Library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
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