The Information Resource Center (IRC) is the environmental library and information center for NJDEP.  It is a full-service library designed to help you get what you need when you need it.  If the IRC does not have a document in its collection that you have requested, IRC staff will identify an available source.

All services provided by the IRC are available to all NJDEP personnel.  Members of the general public are welcome to use the library and its various collections, but are restricted from borrowing any IRC books, documents, etc. and from using services that incur fees, such as interlibrary loans or database searches. 

Two professional librarians staff the IRC and are available to provide the following services:

Circulating Books, Government Documents and Regulatory Materials

NJDEP staff members have borrowing privileges for the IRC's circulating collection of approximately 4,000 books, government documents and regulatory materials related to environmental science and technology. Books that have been cataloged to date can be found in the State Library's Public Access Online Catalog.

If you are looking for a book, report, regulation, etc. that the IRC does not have in its collection, the IRC can obtain it for you via our interlibrary loan service.  This service connects the IRC to a vast system of libraries that share resources.  For example, although the IRC has numerous EPA reports in its collection, we do not have every published EPA report. Frequently, we borrow these reports from other libraries.

Journal Collection

The IRC's journal collection is the IRC's primary source for current information in environmental science.  Because of their importance to current information, the journals  do not circulate. 

Literature Alerts

IRC staff can "watch" for literature in any topic that you are tracking.  For example, the IRC currently supports the work of the State's Mercury Task Force by reviewing the tables of contents of journals for any literature published on mercury regardings its effects on human health and its fate in the environment.  If you are interested in this type of service, just call the IRC.

If you need an article from a journal to which the IRC does not subscribe, the IRC can obtain the article for you via our interlibrary loan service.

Interlibrary Loan Service

The IRC subscribes to the OCLC interlibrary loan service.  This service allows the IRC to borrow and/or obtain photocopies of resources from other libraries.  Through this service, the IRC has access to a vast collection of information resources held by other libraries in the U.S. Numerous academic, corporate, government, and public libraries participate in this service and are willing to lend their materials to the IRC. 

Information Research and Reference services

Two professional librarians assist DEP staff with projects in all subject areas, from basic requests for background information to very technical information.  No request is too small or too large for the IRC.

For example, IRC staff frequently find information on clean air and water treatment technology, environmental economics, environmental justice, ecology, geology, land use planning, regulations, sustainability, technical standards (ASTM, ISO, ASME, etc.), toxicology, wildlife biology, financial profiles of corporations and many other topics.

To provide these types of reference services, IRC staff calls upon its own reference materials, its interlibrary loan service, its relationships with other libraries, the internet and Dialog, a powerful online information service.  Dialog makes millions of references accessible in approximately 650 discrete databases covering topics such as business and industry, biology, chemistry, economics, environmental science, engineering, intellectual property, medicine, and technology.

Maintenance of IRC Web Site

The IRC maintains links to "virtual" sources of technical information available for free on the web.   For more information, click on "Virtual Libraries."