We report medium-resolution ( 1–2 Å ) spectroscopy and broadband ( UBV ) photometry for a sample of 39 bright stars ( the majority of which are likely to be giants ) selected as metal-deficient candidates from an objective-prism survey concentrating on Galactic latitudes below |b| = 30 ^ { \circ } , the LSE survey of Drilling & Bergeron .
Although the primary purpose of the LSE survey was to select OB stars ( hence the concentration on low latitudes ) , the small number of bright metal-deficient giant candidates noted during this survey provide interesting information on the metal-weak thick disk ( MWTD ) population .
Metal abundance estimates are obtained from several different techniques and calibrations , including some that make use of the available photometry and spectroscopy , and others that use only the spectroscopy ; these methods produce abundance estimates that are consistent with one another , and should be secure .
All of the targets in our study have available high-quality proper motions from the Hipparcos or Tycho-II catalogs , or both , that we combine with radial velocities from our spectroscopy to obtain full space motions for the entire sample .

The rotational ( V _ { \phi } ) velocities of the LSE giants indicate the presence of a rapidly rotating population , even at quite low metallicity .
We consider the distribution of orbital eccentricity of the LSE giants as a function of [ Fe/H ] , and conclude that the local fraction ( i.e. , within 1 kpc from the Sun ) of metal-poor stars that might be associated with the MWTD is on the order of 30 % –40 % at abundances below [ Fe/H ] = -1.0 .
Contrary to recent analyses of previous ( much larger ) samples of non-kinematically selected metal-poor stars ( assembled primarily from prism surveys that concentrated on latitudes above |b| = 30 ^ { \circ } ) , we find that this relatively high fraction of local metal-poor stars associated with the MWTD may extend to metallicities below [ Fe/H ] = -1.6 , much lower than had been considered before .
We identify a subsample of 11 LSE stars that are very likely to be members of the MWTD , based on their derived kinematics ; the lowest metallicity among these stars is [ Fe/H ] = -2.35 .
Implications of these results for the origin of the MWTD and for the formation of the Galaxy are considered .