Written by Sarah Walters
Edited by Max Gonzalez Burdick & Sereen Suleiman
Stock image from Pexels
If, like me, you learned about zoo libraries while in the SJSU MLIS program, then you won’t be surprised to learn that aquarium libraries exist. Also, if a recent heat wave has you missing the coast and the ocean like I am, then dive into this blog post to explore these special libraries and the research they support.
Aquarium, marine, and aquatic research libraries are specialized libraries that support researchers around the world. Besides academic marine and aquatic research libraries at colleges and universities, many of these specialized libraries come from private institutions (like aquariums) and non-profit organizations, and government agencies and departments.
A few prominent American libraries will be profiled in this blog post, with information near the end about an international association for librarians and other information professionals who work at these libraries. Links to information about internships and fellowships are also featured, although due to the pandemic, those opportunities may be limited.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) is a private, non-profit research center based in Moss Landing, California. MBARI’s Research Library was founded in 1996 and merged with Moss Landing Marine Labs (MLML) Library in 1999. The library’s collection includes over 2,500 print and electronic journals, over 10 research databases, and around 24,000 maps, archival materials, and monographs. (Fun fact: An SJSU alumna is the librarian for MBARI.) MLML/MBARI Research Library’s collection is “concentrated in fisheries, marine birds and mammals, invertebrate zoology, oceanography, ecology, molecular biology, biogeochemistry, toxicology, marine geology, marine chemistry, and deep-sea biology.” YouTube videos from MBARI provide a fascinating view of deep-sea marine animals, like the rarely-seen fangtooth fish, harp sponges, and barreleye fish. More deep-sea species, many discovered by MBARI researchers, are featured on MBARI’s website. MBARI utilizes state-of-the-art submersibles to advance marine research, and their work has contributed to and expanded scientific understanding of marine life, particularly deep-sea species.
On the east coast, the research library at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida, holds 25,000 volumes, which includes more than 16,000 books and reports, 11,000 journal issues, over 2,000 technical reports from Mote, and the laboratory’s historical publications. Mote’s Arthur Vining Davis Library & Archives was founded in 1978 and supports Mote scientists and staff. The library’s collection “reflects the research interests of the Laboratory: coastal, shelf and estuarine ecology, benthic ecology, coral reef physiology, fisheries, finfish mariculture, aquaculture, elasmobranch biology and biomedical research, fates and effects of toxins in the marine environment, ocean acidification, marine mammals of the Gulf, Atlantic coasts, and sea turtles.”
Also on the Atlantic coast, the Marine Biological Laboratory and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (MBLWHOI) Library is based in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and its library are surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, situated between Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound, and near Nantucket Sound. MBLWHOI Library offers fellowships, like the Catherine N. Norton Fellowship, in which applicants are encouraged to develop creative projects related to collection analysis, digital collections, informatics, or archives, under the supervision of a library mentor. The MBLWHOI Library’s website does not specify the status of their opportunities during the pandemic. MBLWHOI Library provides access to subscription databases like Elsevier Science Direct, Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts, GeoRef, and Web of Science, and the library supports open access resources. The town of Woods Hole is also home to the Woodwell Climate Research Center, NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center, Woods Hole Science Aquarium (the country’s oldest public aquarium), USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, and the Sea Education Association.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates several libraries in its library network nationwide. There are NOAA libraries in the coastal states of Washington, California, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Florida. NOAA Central Library is located in Silver Spring, Maryland. The library subscribes to over 1,000 peer-reviewed journals and provides NOAA employees with access to 37 databases. NOAA Central Library is the official repository of all of NOAA’s publications. Library collections featured on their website include fisheries heritage, the NOAA photo library, rare books and archival materials, and weather and climate.
NOAA Central Library’s mission is to support NOAA’s goals of “promoting global environmental stewardship in order to conserve and wisely manage the Nation’s marine and coastal resources,” as well as “describing, monitoring, and predicting changes in the Earth’s environment in order to ensure and enhance sustainable economic opportunities.” Internships are listed on NOAA Central Library’s website, including collection analysis, development of finding aids, collection management, bibliometrics, web development, and cataloging and metadata. However, due to the pandemic, opportunities are currently unavailable.
The International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers (IAMSLIC) includes members from MBLWHOI Library and from Tunisia’s National Institute of Marine Science and Technology (INSTM) Library on its executive board. IAMSLIC’s archivist works at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s (WHOI) Data Library and Archives. Former IAMSLIC officers include staff from WHOI Library, Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium’s Research Library, NOAA Seattle Library, NOAA’s Honolulu Laboratory Library, the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC)’s StreamNet Library in Portland, OR, and Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans Library. Lastly, IAMSLIC’s Inventory of Marine and Aquatic Repositories (IMAR) provides links to open access institutional repositories, and IAMSLIC’s distributed library provides members with links to journals and library catalogs.
From coast to coast, and all around the world, these specialized libraries support researchers’ understanding of our oceans and marine ecosystems, and the magnificent species that call them home.
Images of some of these libraries:
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