The NOAA Library serves all NOAA employees and affiliates located in the Silver Spring Metro Campus and in the Suitland Federal Center, as well as those located in the Hoover Building in downtown Washington, DC. We also serve employees and contractors from other locations who are not served by another library.

Hours

The library is open Monday thru Friday, excluding Government holidays, from 8:30 AM to 5 PM. Notices of other exceptions will be posted at the entrance.

Location

We are located on the second floor of building 3 on the Silver Spring Metro Center campus:

NOAA SSMC Building Access

For general information on building access please use the following information: https://www.noaa.gov/directions-to-noaa

If you are a NOAA employee or affiliate coming to work temporarily in Silver Spring, please contact us at library.reference@noaa.gov and we can help with hoteling options.

How do I check out material?

NOAA employees and affiliates (i.e. contractors, visiting scientists, Sea Grant fellows, interns) are automatically registered as library patrons. You can either request item pickup using Single Sign-On to access the Primo VE platform or simply bring it to the reference desk and ask to check it out. Please contact library.reference@noaa.gov if you aren't able to access Single-Sign On to request material. 

The standard borrowing period for items is one month. To request an extension to this period, or to renew an item, contact the reference team. Rare books, reference materials, and other special items may not be checked out, but are available for use in the library.

Note: Only NOAA employees or affiliates are eligible to check out materials and access our online databases and e-journals. If you are not a NOAA employee or affiliate, please contact your local library to arrange interlibrary loan.

What type of materials does the Library hold?

The NOAA Library holds materials in a wide variety of formats on a large number of subjects related to NOAA research, including environmental science, ecology, fisheries, geosciences, marine and freshwater biology, meteorological and atmospheric sciences, oceanography and limnology, and more. 

You don't seem to have a book that I need. How can I request materials?

If the library does not have the resource or publication you need, you can request that we get it for you through our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service. To place a request, please see our Interlibrary Loan webpage or email interlibrary.loan@noaa.gov. In your email, please include as much information about the item as possible to assist us in locating the correct item.

If we are not able to locate an item through ILL, or you would like the library to consider adding an item or journal subscription to our permanent collection, you may email your request to library.reference@noaa.gov for evaluation.

The Library has a number of online resources for NOAA staff and affiliates using their NOAA furnished equipment. Please refer to our complete Online Access guide.

Can I access Library resources from a non-NOAA computer?

Your ability to access the library’s electronic collections from a non-NOAA computer depends both on the type of resource needed and on the vendor that provides that resource.

• NOAA Publications: The library’s electronic collections of NOAA publications and videos are freely accessible to anyone. You can access them from anywhere via the NOAA Institutional Repository and library catalog.
• Databases: Field access to online databases depends on the database vendor and access option. Our A-Z list icon legend will indicate whether you need to be on the NOAA Network (IP authentication or VPN) or can sign in using Single Sign On (SSO). 
  • For legal databases such as Lexis+ and Westlaw that require a user ID and password to access, you may use your user ID and password to access the database from anywhere. Contact the Department of Commerce Research Library to obtain a user ID and password to these databases.
• Electronic Journals: Field access to electronic journals depends on the access options. Our catalog will indicate whether you need to be on the NOAA Network (IP authentication or VPN) or can sign in using Single Sign On (SSO). 

If you cannot access our electronic collections from your NOAA office computer, please fill out the library's Report an Access Issue Google Form and we will respond to you as soon as possible.

If you have any other questions about accessing electronic collections from the field, please contact us.

I've retired/been separated from NOAA, can I still access resources?

Unfortunately no! Once you have concluded your service to NOAA you lose access to our subscribed databases, journals and ebook packages. The NOAA Institutional Repository and our Discover search are still available for browsing and you can use your local public library to interlibrary loan materials from the libraries of the world, including the NOAA Library.