National Agricultural Library

The National Agricultural Library (NAL) was formerly the U.S. Department of Agriculture Library. It was built in 1862 and renamed the National Agricultural Library in 1990 through a congressional resolution, becoming one of the four national libraries in the United States.

The main functions of the library include: assuming the service functions of the National Agricultural Library and the Department of Agriculture Library; collecting, organizing, managing, protecting, and providing agricultural information, and providing high-quality information services; helping, training, and guiding the information needs of agricultural consultants and assessors; assuming the role of a global leader in agricultural information resource management; meeting users information needs to the maximum extent through institutional cooperation or the use of information technology; and improving the level of global cooperation through national information exchange and a series of services and technical support.

As of 2007, NAL has a collection of 2,400,000 periodicals and books and 3,600,000 government documents. Its collection resources rank 11th among 123 research libraries, with 166,000 "special" collections.

In 1987, the organizational structure of NAL was adjusted from the original 6 units to 4 units, namely the Directors Office, Technical Service Department, Public Service Department, and Information System Department. Its characteristics are the realization of six integrations, namely, library and information integration, book and periodical integration, procurement integration, cataloging integration, indexing integration, and technology development integration.

The user services provided by NAL include two counters and two rooms to meet the needs of mass consultation and reading. The second counter is the information counter and the professional reference counter. The information counter is located at the entrance of the first floor, answering readers general inquiries and daily affairs services; the professional reference counter is located near the reference tool book and journal reading room, and the librarians familiar with the business answer complex and highly professional questions. Every year, more than 12,000 inquiries from home and abroad and more than 1,000 letters are answered. Among the consulting units, 70% are from the Ministry of Agriculture, 18% from agricultural institutions, and 12% from others. The second room is the reference tool book reading room and the journal reading room. The former displays the main abstracts and indexes of various disciplines, providing convenience for readers to search and consult; the latter collects a large number of serial publications, which is convenient for readers to understand the latest scientific research results and trends. If members of the Ministry of Agriculture need to borrow journals, they can apply one day in advance.

The document lending service of the library is also one of its important tasks. The lending department is responsible for providing collection documents to members of the US Department of Agriculture and the world. Readers can borrow and photocopy documents through various communication devices. In 1982, more than 157,000 documents were borrowed and photocopied, of which 75% were borrowed by telex, mail, and computer terminals. Generally speaking, 96% of the borrowing applications of members of the Ministry of Agriculture are met, and 80% of the applications of non-Ministry of Agriculture members are met. Every year, about 50 countries apply to the library for borrowing.