Yale University Library News

Introducing Marx Science and Social Science Library

view from above of two-story study space with hanging lights, desks, computers
March 31, 2020

A four-generation Yale family has created a permanent endowment for Yale University Library’s Center for Science and Social Science Information — a gift that will support key university initiatives in the sciences and social sciences. The center, which will continue to be located in Kline Tower, will be renamed Marx Science and Social Science Library in honor of the Marx family’s support of Yale libraries.

The gift was spearheaded by Nancy Marx Better ’84, chair of the University Library Council, a longtime Yale leadership volunteer, and a 2019 recipient of the Yale Medal.

“From the preservation of rare books and other cultural treasures to acquisition and management of massive data sets, Yale’s libraries are at the heart of the university’s educational mission — and never more so than in these unprecedented circumstances,” Better said. “We hope that our family’s gift will both sustain and raise awareness of the library’s critical role in teaching and scholarship.”

The renamed Marx Library is home to 12 research support librarians, who serve as liaisons to 26 science and social science departments and four professional schools. Library staff provide research assistance based on deep expertise in science and social science research methods and content, data management, statistical analysis tools and methods, and geographic information systems (GIS). Through its subject, data, GIS, and statistical analysis experts, its central location on Science Hill, and its unique collections of physical and digital information, the library has a key supporting role in Yale’s science strategy as well as the initiative to support data-intensive social science, in which empirical methods and data are applied to public policy and social issues.

Read more in Yale News.