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Library Services for the Public

Notice:  EPA Libraries are suspending in-person visits by the public until further notice.  MORE

EPA Libraries provide a wide range of services to both the public and EPA staff. Members of the public can visit EPA libraries and request assistance with finding and gaining access to EPA publications and web content.

Members of the public can contact their local EPA Library via phone or email as well as make an appointment to meet with a librarian. The following library services are also available to the public.

EPA National Library Catalog: The EPA National Library Catalog is available to the public online. The catalog enables users to search for materials in any EPA library across the country. Once a document is located, users can search NSCEP digital repository to determine if the document is available electronically or submit an interlibrary loan request to obtain the document (see below for description of NSCEP and interlibrary loan services).

Interlibrary Loan: The public can obtain EPA library materials, including journals, books and EPA documents, via interlibrary loan from their local library. Articles from online journal subscriptions that EPA maintains may also be obtained via interlibrary loan in accordance with EPA’s licensing agreement with the journal requested.

National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP): Over 75,000 EPA documents are accessible in digital form from NSCEP. In addition, hard copies of many titles are available free of charge from NSCEP. As EPA continues to digitize its documents, they will be added to the NSCEP digital repository.

Frequent Questions: EPA provides online access to a user-friendly, dynamic Frequent Questions knowledgebase. If users cannot find an answer to a question, EPA accepts questions and provides prompt replies. In addition, the FAQs knowledgebase continuously adds new frequent questions to the website.