LIONEL A. WALFORD LIBRARY

The Lionel A. Walford Library is part of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Fisheries Science Center system of information services. The Library was established in 1961 with the founding of the Sandy Hook Marine Laboratory. It is a member of the largest library network in the nation, FEDLINK, (which is operated by the Library of Congress) as well as the NOAA Library Network consisting of 33 NOAA libraries, 18 of which are within the National Marine Fisheries Service. The Walford Library is a charter member in the Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative, one of six regions in the NJ Library Network, a state-wide system for networking and resource sharing. Lionel Walford organized the laboratory as a center of game and sportfishing research and formed it into one of the world's foremost marine environmental research centers. The original library collection was comprised of Dr. Walford's own donated books and personal papers.

In 1985 the marine laboratory suffered a tragic loss when fire destroyed one of its two main buildings which housed laboratories and the entire holdings of the Walford Library. Since then the library has received donations from around the world, from other libraries and from the scientific community at large. About 90% of the new collection was received through donation.

While intended for use primarily for the staff of the Howard Laboratory, the Walford Library is open to others as a reference, but not a lending (unless through interlibrary loan arrangements), institution. It is used by environmental groups, state and local agencies, commercial and recreational fishermen, fishing industry personnel, writers of popular literature on marine life and those affiliated with our cooperating agencies.

SERVICES
Interlibrary Loan: Material not available in the Walford Library may be borrowed from other libraries, and we reciprocate by lending to other institutions.

Reference and Literature Searches: The Library has access to many on-line databases and has the Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) in CD-ROM format from 1978 to the present. The library staff will provide reference and search services upon request.

DESCRIPTION OF HOLDINGS AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS:
The subject specializations of the collection are in the marine sciences, oceanography, ichthyology, marine environmental matters and pollution, and marine ecology. Principal materials are serials, specialized monographs, theses and dissertations, special works not formally published, reference materials, materials in other languages and maps and charts.

Serials: The library has holdings of approximately 1,200 titles in marine science, fishery ecology, chemistry, microbiology and environmental concerns. Serials are bound, in paper copy or in microform.

Abstracts and Indexes: In addition to the electronic means of literature searches, the library maintains the following major indexes in hard copy, which are particularly useful for covering time periods not available through electronic means:
    Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts
    Biological Abstracts
    Commercial Fisheries Abstracts
    Fisheries Review
    Current Contents
    Indexes to Government Fishery Publication, 1871-1985
    Water Resources Abstracts
    FAO Current Bibliography
    Zoological Record, Pisces Section

Charts and Maps: This collection contains nautical, bathymetric and topographic charts, maps and atlases, tide and current tables, and climatological data of the U.S. from 1914.

Pamphlet File: This is a ready-reference collection of popular material and ephemera on approximately 300 subjects such as seafood products, ocean dumping, climate and fisheries, beach erosion, artificial reefs, shipwrecks, etc. The material must be used in the library.

Rare Book Collection: The Library has a collectionof older materials, including some of the major expeditions:

    Galathea Reports
    Swedish Deep-Sea Expedition
    Dana Reports
    Papers of the Danish Biological Station
    Reports of the "Michael Sars" Expeditions
    Revue der hydrobiologie und hydrographie
    Papers from the Tortugas laboratory
    Meddelelser om Gronland
    Bulletin of the U.S. Fish Commission
    Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology
    Bulletin of the U.S. National Museum
    Serial Atlases of the Marine Environment

Newsletters: The Library maintains approximately 300 newsletters from various marine and fishery science organizations and government agencies.