Goal:  Establish and maintain a comprehensive ornithological and conservation biology research library related to the mission of the organization and of major importance to the entire conservation community.

The Peregrine Fund Research Library has been formed over the past 10 years from contributions by many generous donors, exchanges with other institutional libraries and individuals, and by the purchase of books and journals.  The library is housed in the new Gerald and Kathryn S. Herrick Collections Building, which was completed in September 2002.   

The Research Library collections include titles on all groups animals and plants, but with a heavy emphasis on birds and conservation biology.  The main holdings are books and reports (15,000 titles), reprints (20,000), journals (full or partial runs of over 1,200 titles), newsletters, conservation magazines, videos, CDs, photographic slides, and maps.  In addition to the traditional paper versions of publications, a parallel electronic library of journals and PDF copies of reprints is maintained and is growing at a rapid pace.

We also house important avian specimen collections in the Herrick Building for research use.  These include over 12,000 empty eggshells and eggshell fragment specimens (virtually all of the eggs laid by our captive breeding flocks of falcons, eagles, and condors since 1970!) and over 300 study skins of raptors derived from natural deaths in the captive flocks and salvaged specimens of native Idaho birds from road and window kills.

Our most important goal is to make our library and specimen collections available to the entire global research community, especially to colleagues who may not have access to comprehensive library resources.  Searchable catalogs of our book and reprint collections and an inventory of our journal holdings are posted on this site (see below).  Researchers may obtain PDF copies of any article in our collection upon request at library@peregrinefund.org.  There is no charge for this service, but all donations are greatly appreciated, since they go directly to the acquisition of additional titles for the library. 

We continue to welcome donations of libraries, books, and reprints, even items already represented in the Research Library, since we can exchange or sell the duplicates to add new items to our collections.  Inventories of our many duplicate journals and books are also posted on this site, and we are especially interested in exchanges with foreign libraries and researchers.  All donations by U.S. citizens are tax deductible at fair market prices. 

The library is open to researchers and students from 9 AM to 5 PM on weekdays and by appointment on weekends.  There are two offices set aside for scholars-in-residence, and researchers interested in longer term visits should contact us at library@peregrinefund.org.  We hope you will visit our library either in person or electronically!

Library Search Engines and Journal Inventories
To search our library holdings, click on one of the the following four databases.