Aquaculture Network Information Center

Overview
The Aquaculture Network Information Center (AquaNIC) was conceived in 1994 by the former USDA-Extension Service (currently Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service) as one of the nation’s first network information centers to serve as a gateway to the world’s electronic aquaculture resources. AquaNIC was created, using a small program development grant from USDA-Extension Service, the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program, and Purdue University Libraries. 

Primary funding of AquaNIC is through the NOAA Sea Grant College Program with secondary support from USDA North Central Regional Aquaculture Center.  In-kind support is provided by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, Auburn University's Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquaculture, and the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program.  Land Grant institutions, Sea Grant Colleges, the USDA Regional Aquaculture Center Program, and others with an expertise in aquaculture provide significant oversight and contribute to the resource base.  AquaNIC houses or provides links to thousands of state, national, and international aquaculture publications, newsletters, visual media, calendars, job services, directories and specialty sections for species and production systems.   

Mission

AquaNIC is the gateway to the world’s electronic resources for aquaculture information.

Objectives

1. Provide access to all electronic aquaculture information at the national and international level.
2. Increase the quantity and quality of electronic information available to the aquaculture industry.
3. Provide self-paced aquaculture instruction to the aquaculture industry.
4. Obtain user input in directing AquaNIC services.

DOC/NOAA
AquaNIC is a member of the DOC/NOAA Sea Grant Network of Aquaculture Information Services (NAIS).  NAIS collaborators included Delaware Sea Grant, Maryland Sea Grant, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, the National Sea Grant Library, and the DOC/NOAA Aquaculture Information Center.  

AgNIC
The Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC) is a voluntary alliance of the National Agricultural Library (NAL), land-grant universities and other agricultural organizations, in cooperation with citizen groups and government agencies. AgNIC focuses on providing agricultural information in electronic format over the World Wide Web via the Internet). One of the objectives of AgNIC is that member participants take responsibility for small vertical segments of agricultural information (including basic, applied, and developmental research, extension, and teaching activities in the food, agricultural, renewable natural resources, forestry, and physical and social sciences) and develop Web sites and reference services in specific subject areas. AgNIC (http://agnic.org) is a discipline-specific distributed network with where lead and collaborating institutions rely on networked search capabilities, thus eliminating the need for a single physical location to house information.

AquaNIC now consists of 13 Land Grant/Sea Grant Institutions and NAL's AFSIC.  The guiding concept for multiple collaborating institutions is the need to utilize the regional expertise developed as a result of the diversity of species produced and the production systems used.  It is expected that from 2-5 additional institutions will join AquaNIC and the aquaculture subject area for AgNIC within the next six months. Member institutions participating in the AgNIC Alliance for aquaculture will be collectively referred to as AquaNIC.

Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, Auburn University Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquaculture, and the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program, Auburn University, Kentucky State University, Maine Sea Grant/Cooperative Extension, the University of Arizona, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, the University of California Davis, the University of Florida Tropical Aquaculture Center, the University of Idaho Cooperative Extension Service, Texas A&M University, Thad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center, and Virginia State University serve as AgNIC collaborators.  Each of these institutions has a rich history in aquaculture research, education, and outreach.  At the Federal level, the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) will serve as a NAL collaborator and continue their involvement in the distribution of electronic aquaculture information. 

Each AquaNIC participant will serve as the lead institution for a narrowly focused subject matter category within AquaNIC.  The lead institution will be charged with locating, entering, and maintaining a sub-Web for each subject category.  Participating institutions will house documents on their local servers.  In addition, participating institutions will be responsible for entering information describing each document/service into the Centroid database located at Purdue University.  A single database will provide users the capability of using one search to locate any document/service regardless of locations.  A template Web page will be used to ensure consistency between all subject category pages, AquaNIC, and AgNIC.  All subject category pages and AquaNIC will also adhere to the general guidelines of AgNIC.   Three primary AgNIC requirements are: