Description of Services:

The Environmental Research Library (ERL) 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 ERL does not have a document in its collection that you have requested, ERL staff will identify an available source.
All services provided by the ERL 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 ERL books, documents, etc. and from using services that incur fees, such as interlibrary loans or database searches.
Two professional librarians staff the ERL and are available to provide the following services:

Circulating Books, Government Documents and Regulatory Materials:

NJDEP staff members have borrowing privileges for the ERL'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 ERL does not have in its collection, the ERL can obtain it for you via our interlibrary loan service. This service connects the ERL to a vast system of libraries that share resources. For example, although the ERL has numerous EPA reports in its collection, we do not have every published EPA report. Frequently, we borrow these reports from other libraries.

*Pick-up and Return of State Library Books – Since the ERL is a branch library, NJ State Library books can be reserved for you and sent to the ERL for pickup. When requesting a book, specify the DEP Library as the location to pick up. State Library books can also be dropped off here, and we will check them in before returning them to the State Library.

Journal Collection:

The ERL's journal collection is the ERL's primary source for current information in environmental science. Because of their importance to current information, the journals do not circulate. DEP personnel can request articles to be scanned and sent via e-mail or interoffice mail. Literature alerts can also be set up for a specific topic or area of interest (see Literature Alerts below.)

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

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 ERL.

For example, ERL 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, ERL 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.

Literature and News Alerts:

ERL staff can "watch" for literature in any topic that you are tracking. For example, the ERL 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 regarding its effects on human health and its fate in the environment. We can also collect and generate alerts for news articles on a specified topic or area of interest. Climate change and white-nose syndrome are just two of the topics we are currently watching for various DEP personnel. If you are interested in this type of service or wish to be added to an existing alert, please contact the ERL.

Interlibrary Loan Service:

The ERL subscribes to the OCLC Interlibrary Loan service (ILL). This service allows the ERL to borrow and/or obtain photocopies of resources from other libraries. Through this service, the ERL 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 ERL.

If you wish to make an interlibrary loan request for something that is not held in our collection, simply call or email us with information about the item, and we will do our best to obtain it for you.

For non-work items, or materials not related to your research/professional development, please use the State Library’s interlibrary loan system. Instructions on using the State Library’s ILL system can be found here:

Library Cards:

The ERL issues NJ State Library cards to NJDEP staff, which can be used to check out circulating materials in our collection, as well as the State Library’s. The library card’s barcode can also be used to access databases available at the State Library.

If you wish to obtain or renew your library card, please contact the ERL. NJ state employees and Thomas Edison State College staff, students and mentors may also register online at the State Library’s website:

State Library's Public Access Online Catalog.*

For Students and Scholars:

Members of the general public are welcomed to use the library and its various collections, but are restricted from borrowing any ERL books, documents, etc. and from using services that incur fees, such as interlibrary loans or database searches. If you are a student or a scholar and wish to view items in the library for research purposes, please contact the ERL to make arrangements to visit the library. If you have questions about our collection, feel free to email or give us a call.

Maintenance of ERL Web Site:

The ERL maintains links to "virtual" sources of technical information available for free on the web. For more information, click on "Environmental Information Resources."