Information Centers: From Irradiation to Biotechnology and Beyond

Maria G. Pisa, leader, Special Services and Communications, Education and Information Staff, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD.

Modern agricultural research is a dynamic enterprise requiring the digestion of large amounts of information to help give it focus, direction, and justification. As the Nation's storehouse for that information, the National Agricultural Library (NAL) answers a steady flow of inquiries. From scientists and technicians across the country, come inquiries like these:

A scientist in Texas conducting research on polyculture of channel catfish and freshwater prawns in a 10-acre pond is in need of the latest studies on the subject. Her continuing research may lead to increased production of farm-produced fish to help satisfy international food needs and increase farmer income;

A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) research administrator attempting to determine risk factors in the potential release of genetically engineered organisms into the environment requires an exhaustive search of the literature. This information will help guide the Agricultural Research Service in formulating policy for future biotechnological research;

In Oregon, a university faculty member serving on a national task force focusing on emerging industrial crops requests data on levels of investment in new crops research. The data supplied reveals a minimal national investment of resources. This information is supporting the development of industrial crops vital to the economy;

A team of USDA scientists petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to allow the irradiation of poultry meat at medium doses questions the potential of Clostridium Botulinum growth in the irradiated product. A comprehensive bibliography of published research findings substantiates their concern and offers a solution to the problem: controlled refrigerated storage.

Information centers at NAL are supporting researchers daily by sup- plying information that will lead to answers to these and other questions. Inquiries in subject areas such as biotechnology, aquaculture, critical materials, food irradiation, and food and nutrition are referred to information center coordinators who stand ready to use the world's information base to deliver the documentation vital to a scientist's research.

Life Cycle of a Question

NAL each year responds to more than 30,000 requests for information exclusive of the more than 150,000 requests received--solely for documents. A portion of these questions will be reference research requests and will be directed to an appropriate subject-related center. Once there, they will be carefully analyzed and the most effective response determined.

Within a given center a wealth of information is available, and, literally, at the fingertips of a librarian or technical information specialist. Through the course of answering a complex research request, for instance, an array of computerized databases will be tapped to track the world's published literature on a given topic, locate research in progress, and cull statistical data. Sophisticated search strategies will be designed to retrieve precisely the information needed, in the format in which it is needed.

Relevant documents will be selected and photocopied from NAL's expansive collections or borrowed through interlibrary loan. A carefully constructed support network of subject area experts and organizations will be activated for referrals. Private files compiled ad hoc will be scoured. Finally, a detailed information package reflecting a potpourri of inputs will be assembled and readied for delivery.

Once a reference inquiry is completed to the satisfaction of the user, it will take on a new dimension within an information center. For the center's coordinator, the question itself as well as the answer becomes information information which will likely serve as the building blocks for expanding the resources of the center and NAL. The inquiry may be used as the basis for evaluating the strength of NAL collections in a particular subject area. How effectively was the question answered through on-site collections? Are core journal titles missing? Have important texts or directories been published recently that the Library should acquire? Is the best information contained in the private library of a noted expert or housed at another library, and should the center seek to duplicate it on microfiche, laser disc, or some other technology?

Subject-oriented information centers at the National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Maryland, support research conducted at adjoining USDA research facilities and throughout the country.

The question's interest to a wider audience also will be considered. If the inquiry is on a timely topic likely to generate numerous requests for the same information, a Quick Bibliography, Special Reference Brief, or Pathfinder may be developed.

These information products direct users to the available literature and other resources with instructions for how to obtain the information. Other, more extensive bibliographies also may emanate from the original request.

Information Centers Back to the Future

Information centers area relatively new concept at NAL. Why information centers? What is the impetus behind their creation? And more importantly, how will their services differ from those the Library has traditionally provided? To answer these questions, let us digress a moment to the past.

When Isaac Newton, the first Commissioner of Agriculture, outlined the program for a new Department in 1862, he placed near the top of his list the establishment of an agricultural library. He believed that a rich mine of knowledge would be accumulated through exchange, gift, and purchase. With the blessing of Commissioner Newton and an appropriation of $4,000, 1,000 books were transferred from the Agricultural Division of the U.S. Patent Office. These volumes formed the nucleus of what was to become one of the most extensive collections of agricultural literature in the world.

The Library, from its inception, has been the principal agency in USDA for the acquisition, storage, and dissemination of scientific and technical information. A primary objective of the early library was to develop collections and provide services to support the Department's programs. Since research has always been a key program, the Library grew into a major research library supporting not only all USDA agencies, but other related government activities as well.

As the Library's collection and services steadily expanded, so did its reach. The Department's agricultural library rapidly became the Nation's agricultural library with a collection of 1.8 million volumes including 25,000 journal titles. Today, NAL is one of the largest agricultural libraries in the world. Nationally, it is the coordinator and primary resource for a network of State land-grant and field libraries that work together to deliver information to all sectors of the population from the researcher to Extension workers, farmers, lawmakers, industrialists, students, private citizens, and others with an interest in agriculture.

Internationally, it is the designated U.S. center for the worldwide agricultural information system sponsored by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Roughly 60 percent of its collection is of foreign origin. Most of these materials are obtained through an international exchange program that brings some 100,000 items into NAL each year. A tradition of special donations and gifts by individuals and private organizations complements this process.