WQIC Logo by Joseph R. Makuch
Coordinator, Water Quality
Information Center (WQIC)
and Daniel Kelley
Student Volunteer, WQIC, NAL
WQIC Logo
Clean water is a precious natural resource that is necessary for the health and survival of humans both as individuals and as a species. But human activities, including agriculture, can sometimes cause water contamination problems. Harmful ecological effects may result and water may become unsuitable for human use. Americans are concerned. The Roper Organization reports that in 1978, two-thirds of the public felt that severe water pollution would be a threat to future generations. By 1991, three-quarters of the public held this view.
Many individuals and organizations are working to protect water resources. Through the Working Group on Water Quality, agencies of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, including NAL, are cooperatively using their respective expertise to protect water quality while ensuring agricultural productivity.
Established in 1990, the Water Quality Information Center serves as the focal point of NAL's water quality efforts. The center collects, organizes, and communicates scientific findings, educational methodologies, and public policy issues related to water quality and agriculture. The resources at the center's disposal are suited especially well to serving the needs of policy makers, researchers, and educators.
To assist individuals looking for information on water quality topics, the center provides services that include performing brief literature searches of databases on CD-ROM discs, directing clients to additional information sources, and maintaining a list of NAL publications related to water quality. With access to many commercial online databases, the center can assist individuals who need a comprehensive literature search on a specific water quality topic. Because of budget constraints, these searches often must be done on a cost-recovery basis.
The center also manages the Water Information Network (WIN)--a computer conference on ALF (Agricultural Library Forum), NAL's elec- tronic bulletin board. WIN contains bulletins which provide information on timely water quality topics as well as files containing information useful in research and education. WIN also has an electronic mail capability that allows users to exchange information among themselves or with the Water Quality Information Center.
Offerings on WIN have progressively increased and the system is now accessible through Internet. One of the WIN bulletins is a comprehensive listing of water quality meetings and call-for-papers. This bulletin is updated monthly and typically contains more than 85 entries. Other water quality information on WIN includes:
Center materials have also been posted on the University of Maryland InforM
Internet gopher site. To access these materials key in gopher or telnet
and the address inform.umd.edu and
then select Educational Resources, followed by Agricultural
Resources, and finally Water Quality Information Center.
Other WQIC Internet efforts include compiling a listing of electronic discussion forums
(called "lists")
related to water resources. This document is posted on WIN and also on Maryland's InforM.
Center staff subscribe to many of these discussion lists as a means of interacting with
the various segments of the water quality community.
The center produces and distributes water quality titles for NAL's quick bibliography (QB) series. Citations are selected from AGRICOLA--NAL's database of agricultural literature citations which contains more than three million records. The QB series covers topics that have a high level of current interest or are topics of increasing importance in the area of water quality and agriculture. Risk Assessment and Communication Related to Water Resources is an example of a current title.
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...in 1978, two-thirds of the public felt that severe water pollution would ba a threat to future generations. By 1991, three-quarters of the public held this view.
The center has a small budget and operates with less than two full-time professionals. To leverage resources, the center frequently collaborates with others who have similar interests. For example, the center is currently working with NAL's Alternative Farming Systems Information Center to create a bibliography on precision farming techniques and with USDA's Soil Conservation Service on a bibliography concerning constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment.
Services of the Water Quality Information Center have been in demand: in fiscal years
(FYs) 1991-93 the center responded to more than six hundred inquiries on water quality
topics by providing technical information, referrals, and literature searches. In
addition, seven thousand NAL-produced publications on water quality have been distributed.
At the beginning of FY 94, the center had available twenty-five titles--mostly
bibliographies--on current topics related to water
quality and agriculture. In FY 93, five new bibliographies were produced and three were
updated. As new areas of interest emerge within the water quality community, additional
bibliographies will be developed to help fill the information needs that result.
A less visible function of the center, but over the long term a very important one, is improving NAL's water quality resources: the center identifies and recommends additions to NAL's collection, forwards items to the library's gifts program, and works to strengthen water quality subject coverage in AGRICOLA.
Approximately three-thousand citations related to water resources have been added to
the AGRICOLA database each year during Fiscal Years 91-93. In addition, the center has
made recommendations leading to the indexing of nine additional water quality journals in
AGRICOLA and adding abstracts to the AGRICOLA citations of five more water quality
journals. Through the Water Quality Information Center--which acquires publications
directly or recommends that NAL acquire them--hundreds of water quality titles have been
added to the NAL collection that otherwise would not have been added. These improvements
to AGRICOLA and the NAL collection are not ephemeral: they will provide both immediate and
lasting benefit to individuals seeking information
necessary to address issues related to agriculture and water resources.
The influence of environmental considerations on agricultural operations has never been greater. As science and policy strive to craft agricultural systems that are both environmentally friendly, profitable, and productive, the Water Quality Information Center plays an important role in providing efficient access to the information necessary for progress.
For a listing of bibliographies or information on accessing WIN, contact
WQIC via:
Internet: wqic@nalusda.gov
Telephone: 301-504-6077
TDD/TTY: (301) 504-6856
Fax: (301) 504-7098
Or write to: Water Quality Information Center
National Agricultural Library, USDA
10301 Baltimore Boulevard, 4th Floor
Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2351