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Services

Ask a Question
Most questions are answered within five (5) business days of receipt.

We can help you:

  • choose databases
  • set up search alerts
  • conduct literature reviews
  • find data
  • locate hard-to-find items, such as historical documents and conference proceedings

Borrow Materials
On-site visitors may request materials to read or copy in the main reading room, but access to the stacks and the ability to take materials out of the library is limited to USDA employees.

Customers unable to visit the library may borrow materials from NAL by contacting their local library. Learn more about borrowing materials.

NEW! NAL patrons may now scan pages at no charge using our new Bookeye 4 scanner kiosks.

Two new self service scanners allow patrons to scan and save images from books and other documents to a USB drive. 

    The scanner can handle books of a variety of sizes and scans up to an 18-inch by 24-inch area at a time.

    DigiTop | For USDA employees only.
    Review licensed journals, newspapers, databases, and directories in such subjects as agriculture, forestry, and allied fields, including government, economics, and business.

    Information Centers
    Tap into essential information focusing on specific aspects of agriculture through NAL's specialized information centers. Learn more about our information centers.

    NAL Products Catalog
    Shop for high-quality products and reproductions from NAL's rare books and manuscript collections. A portion of the proceeds supports the conservation treatment of fragile materials.

    NAL Thesaurus
    The Thesaurus broadly describes the subject scope of agriculture, with over 98,000 terms organized into seventeen categories. It is used primarily for indexing and to improve the retrieval of agricultural information. Its companion Glossary includes the definitions for over 3,800 agricultural terms. Both are available in English and Spanish.

    RSS Feeds
    Receive focused, subject-specific news and updates without cluttering your inbox with e-mail messages. NAL offers five different RSS feeds for you to subscribe to.