Jet Propulsion Laboratory (U.S.) Library.

Managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is the lead U.S. center for robotic exploration of space. JPL spacecraft have visited all known planets in our Solar System except Pluto. In addition to its work for NASA, JPL conducts tasks for a variety of other federal agencies.

JPL's main 177-acre site is at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, California, 12 miles northeast of Los Angeles. In addition, JPL manages the worldwide Deep Space Network, which communicates with spacecraft and conducts scientific investigations from its complexes in California's Mojave Desert near Barstow; near Madrid, Spain; and near Canberra, Australia.

The JPL Library was established by May 1945. The library assists the laboratory with the following functions: materials acquisition, circulation, consultation programs, classified document control point, online search, materials orders for personnel, procurement liaison, reference/research, requests, reserves and recalls, subscriptions and digital cataloging.

Although the name has remained constant, the Section number assigned to the Library has changed throughout the years. A list of these changes is as follows: Section 614, December 1962 - June 1966; Section 752, July 1966 - December 1972; Section 652, January 1973 - June 1980; Section 617, July 1980 - December 1988; Section 644, January 1989 - June 1994; Section 643, July 1995 - Present.