Interior Library Collections

ock Art of the Lower Pecos, Amistad National Recreation Area, Texas.

General Collection
Reference Collection
Periodicals and Newspapers
Law Collection
Rare Book Collection

General Collection

The general collection includes publications produced by bureaus and offices of the Department of the Interior, as well as reports of research and projects funded by the Department. The Library receives many reports each year from other agencies of the U.S. Federal government as a selective Federal Documents Depository Library.

The Library acquires books and journals on such subjects as:

public lands
natural resources economics and natural resources management
environmental protection
forestry and range management
fisheries
geology
Native Americans
national parks and historic sites
outdoor recreation
historic preservation
wildlife conservation
endangered species
water resources development
mining
fossil and renewable energy sources
offshore oil and gas development
United States history
general public policy and public administration and government policies and programs

Reference Collection

The reference collection includes standard reference sources such as almanacs, encyclopedias, yearbooks, and directories. Titles of special interest to the Department are also collected. These include microform copies of all Congressional publications and documents, presidential executive orders and proclamations, and selected records from the Department that are permanently maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration.

Periodicals and Newspapers

The Library receives hundreds of journals and newsletters, and subscribes to five daily newspapers. Recent issues of many of the most popular titles and selected legal periodicals are shelved in the Periodicals Reading Room.

Earlier issues are retained and shelved in the book stacks. However, most periodicals that are currently received have no call number, and issues are shelved alphabetically by the title of the periodical, on Deck 6.

Legal periodicals are shelved alphabetically by title, on Deck 4.

All current periodicals and newspapers, and those the Library continued to receive after 1975, are listed in the online catalog. Check the card catalog to locate other periodicals.

Law Collection

The law collection contains United States Reports, Federal and regional reporters, selected state, territorial, and tribal codes, and legal treaties. There are also Departmental legal and administrative materials, law reference sources, and law reviews. Subject specialties include environmental law, public lands and land use, law relating to American Indian tribes, and administrative law.

U.S. Department of the Interior employees are provided access to Lexis-Nexis for online legal research. Several other online information services are also of interest:

Rare Book Collection

The rare book collection includes 19th-century monographs on Native Americans, American history, and zoology. Rare books are indicated as such in the catalog as "Rarebook." Their locations are given as "RBR." To use a rare book, please see a reference librarian.