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Re: national ag library



On Wed, 26 Jan 1994, Jeffrey L. Kirwan wrote:

> Is there anyone who can tell me how to access the National (US)
> Agricultural Library (I believe the acronym is ARCOLA)?
> Thank You!
> Jeff Kirwan, Extension Agent, Va. Coop. Ext.


Agricola is a article citation database produced by the NAL.  My yearly
CD-ROM subscription costs about $800.  You can also access their database
on several online database services, including Dialog and EPIC (both
accessible on the Internet).  It costs $.75/connect minute to use Agricola
on Dialog, and about $.33/connect minute to access through EPIC.  You need
an account in order to connect to Dialog or EPIC.

You can, for free, access the NAL's BBS through the FedWorld BBS.  Just
telnet to fedworld.gov (at system prompt type "telnet fedworld.gov").
There's some useful information on their bulletin board (ALF--Agricultural
Library Forum).  The most useful information, I believe, is contact names
for each state.

I'd recommend checking for contacts in your area, and calling to find out
whether they have Agricola.  I believe that most of the university extensions
get a significant price break on Agricola.  I think that Agricola might
also be available through the internet to certain government employees.  I
think that your best bet would be to ask other ag extension type people in
your area whether they have Agricola (and will let you use theirs), or
whether they know a way to access Agricola (local land grant university?).

Dawn E. Bergacker
dawnb@csn.org
Manager of Technical Information, Imperial Holly Corporation
Colorado Springs

P.S.  I think that someone from NAL reads this list.  She should be able
to give you a fuller answer.  I think that it's also possible for "some
government employees" to connect to the online library catalog at NAL.
The catalog would tell you what books they have at NAL, and what
periodicals they subscribe to.