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OLS is the Online Library System for the Library Network of the United States Environmental
Protection Agency. It consists of several related databases that can be used to locate books,
reports, and audiovisual materials on a variety of topics. The material on OLS is updated every two weeks, and
may be searched in many ways, such as by title, author, and keyword.
The National Catalog, which is the most popular database on OLS, contains the holdings (lists of
books, documents and magazine titles) for most of the 28 EPA regional libraries and laboratories.
The National Catalog also has holdings for the EPA documents in NTIS, the National Technical
Information Service (whether or not they are held by any libraries). OLS can also search and
display NTIS abstracts.
There are also special collections in the OLS database. The National Service Center for Environmental Publications (formerly NCEPI) distributes thousands of popular EPA documents free of charge. You can search this collection to find publications that are available from NSCEP.
The
Environmental Financing Information Network (EFIN) database contains
abstracts of publications and other relevant materials - such as case
studies and contact information - on environmental financing.
The National Enforcement Training Institute database contains information on training materials for the EPA enforcement community.
The Subsurface Remediation Information Center (SRIC) is a component of the technology support center located at EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Subsurface Protection and Remediation Division, SPRD, (formerly the Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Laboratory in Ada, Oklahoma.) The SRIC provides publication distribution of highly specialized scientific and technical information developed by and through SPRD relating to ground water protection and remediation. The SRIC maintains a bibliography, with abstracts, and a repository of SPRD publications for distribution to EPA, government, contractors, universities, environmental consultants and the public.
The Region I database contains the holdings of the Region I Library in Boston, and is maintained by Region I Library personnel.
The Region V database contains the holdings of the regional office in Region V - Chicago. It currently includes the Regional Library, the Law Library, the GLNPO Library collection, and the Solid Waste collection in HR-7J (SWIC).
The Region IX database contains historical information from the Region IX Library in San Francisco.
You can search OLS to find information on a specific publication, or you can search for all of the books and reports that EPA has on a particular topic or by a particular author. Once you retrieve records for publications that interest you, there are several ways that you can obtain those publications.
How To Obtain Publications
Via an EPA Library:
If a publication is owned by one of EPA's libraries, the OLS record will contain that information. In the field labeled "Holdings," there will be a four-letter code that represents the owner library. The name of the library is also written out below the holdings information.
EPA staff may check items out from their local EPA library, or request a publication via Interlibrary Loan from another EPA library. Non-EPA staff can request publications via Interlibrary Loan by working with a public, university, government or corporate library in their area. Contact the EPA library nearest you for further information.
Via the National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP) (formerly NCEPI):
Some EPA publications are available from EPA's National Service Center for Environmental Publications, located in Cincinnati, OH. NSCEP makes over 5000 EPA publications available free-of-charge to the public. You can search NSCEP's National Publications Catalog for these documents.
Via the National Technical Information Service (NTIS):
Thousands of EPA documents are available from the National
Technical Information Service  .
You can tell that a document is available from NTIS from the OLS
record. The record will have an alphanumeric code in the "Call Number"
field that has this format:
PB XXX-XXX, or PBXX-XXXXXX. You can reach NTIS toll-free at 1-800-553-6847(NTIS).
Via the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC):
Some EPA publications are available from ERIC, the Educational
Resources Information Center. You can search the ERIC database at
http://www.ericfacility.net/teams/Login.do?action=7&userName;=guest
.
See the EPA Publications page for more information on publications that are available electronically on the EPA web site.
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