The Dana Library and Research Centre (formerly the Dana Centre) on

Queen's Gate Queen's Gate is a street in South Kensington, London, England. It runs south from Kensington Gardens' Queen's Gate (the edge of which gardens are here followed by Kensington Road) to Old Brompton Road, intersecting Cromwell Road. The street ...

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

is part of the Science Museum Group. Designed by Sir Richard MacCormac of

MJP Architects MJP Architects is an employee-owned British architectural practice established in 1972 by Sir Richard MacCormac, and based in Spitalfields, London. The practice officially changed its name from MacCormac Jamieson Prichard to MJP Architects in June ...

, the building opened in 2003 as a public event venue in

for contemporary

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...

debate, run largely by the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in ...

. The building itself houses offices used by the Science Museum and the

British Science Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...

(formerly known as British Association for the Advancement of Science). The Dana Centre is not directly accessible from the main museum, and is situated on the nearby

street. Previously an events space and café, the building re-opened in late 2015 as the Dana Library and Research Centre, aiming to "provide a world-class environment for academic research, bringing together the museum’s thriving Research and Public History Department and access to its library and archive collections".

Opening times

The centre is currently open to researchers and visitors alike by appointment only, Thursdays and Fridays from 11.00 to 17.00. It is closed on Bank Holidays during Christmas and New Years holiday periods.

Access to the collection

Visitors to the Dana Centre can access almost 7,000 volumes on the history and biography of science, technology and medicine and their philosophical and social aspects. Journals are also available in physical and digital formats, with core titles being mainly available electronically. As 99% of the Science Museum Group's library and archives are held at th
Library and Archives
at the National Collection Centre, in Whiltshire, some of the archival material will need to be ordered in advance.

References

External links

Official website of replacement Dana Research Centre
{{Authority control Event venues established in 2003 Buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Science Museum, London Museum education Libraries in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Richard MacCormac buildings