ABSTRACT
The Pentagon Library is the second oldest Federal Library after the State Department Library. It has been reconstituted several times, and was designated the Departmental Library for the War Department (later Defense) a year after the Pentagon was built in 1943. A study made by Keyes Metcalf, then Director of Libraries at Harvard University, located some 23 libraries in the Pentagon and seven more War Department Libraries in the Washington area. He made the case for a single library focus, stating that the present situation is one of uncoordinated decentralization. There are too many libraries and a tendency to start additional ones on the slightest pretext. Subsequently, Secretary of War, George C. Marshall established the library to serve all the requirements in the Pentagon with the Army tasked to provide support. In 1983, it was renamed the Pentagon Library to more accurately reflect the mission to support the policy and decision makers in the Pentagon, and those in the National Capital Region not having formal libraries. (See Photos 4.1, 4.2, 4.3.)
