Louise Richards, Fisheries-Oceanography Library
Forty-six years ago the University of Washington was the only institution in the country to offer bachelors degrees in both fisheries and oceanography. To support the teaching and research in these fields, the UW created a small separate library of 3,000 volumes, some of which were pulled from the old Science Reading Room, with the rest coming from the departmental collections of the School of Fisheries and the Department of Oceanography. Today the College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences has a combined population of 450 graduate and undergraduate students, 100 faculty members and 150 professional staff.
From its small beginnings, the Fisheries-Oceanography Library has become one of the premier libraries in the country for fisheries and oceanography. Here at the UW, the library is also the primary place for marine studies, food science and polar science materials. The collection numbers over 66,000 volumes with 1,200 current journal subscriptions. Almost half of the journal subscriptions come directly to Fisheries-Oceanography through exchange programs with institutions around the world.
The library moved to its present location in the Oceanography Teaching Building in 1969. The staff was larger then, reflecting the non-automated nature of the work. Today, two part-time librarians and two library technicians staff the branch, with the capable help of four student employees.
Library users can now avail themselves of many services away from the actual physical location of the library. As is true of all of the UW Libraries' many units, e-mail and desktop access to periodical databases are fully incorporated into everyday operations. From their homes or offices, patrons may ask reference questions and renew materials, review the titles on the weekly New Book Shelf, access a table of contents service called CARL UnCover, and, of course, search the UW Libraries Catalog.
The Fisheries-Oceanography Library's home page provides essential information about services, and links to other resources on the World Wide Web. Once, librarians did their own original indexing of materials because good indexes and abstracts were virtually non-existent. Nowadays, the library functions as a conduit to worldwide resources.
For all of this, the library remains, as one faculty member, David Fluharty, Marine Affairs, put it, a "place of discovery." Fluharty used the library extensively while producing the Atlas of Marine Use of the North Pacific Region. Research uncovered here prompted contact with scientists from all over the world. He also valued the presence of historic and current materials residing next to each other on the shelves. Indeed, serendipitous discoveries are common for those browsing among the books and journals.
Fisheries graduate student Joe Schumacker spent the summer of 1995 in the library gathering information for a Puget Sound marine fish bibliography. Just published by Washington Sea Grant, it is titled Marine Fish Culture and Enhancement Bibliography: Focus on Puget Sound.
The information needs of the library's clientele are quite varied. Oceanographers setting out on cruises need to know about a distant ocean. Forestry students want to know the benefits of riparian zones. Commercial fishermen are interested in pinpointing the whereabouts of a particular species of fish. Food scientists research food safety, while artists come looking for drawings and photographs of Pacific salmon. In addition, the library runs an active class reserve operation, and libraries around the world use the collection heavily through interlibrary loan.
Since library users are increasingly caught up with the vision of the information superhighway and its component, the World Wide Web, more and more people expect libraries to be online. But for now, and likely for some time to come, the Fisheries-Oceanography Library remains a place to come to as well as to access electronically. The electronic library is a goal that library professionals will be working towards into the 21st century, however. So come visit now, and again in 25 years.