National Oceanography Library
Parent Body: NERC, Southampton Oceanography Centre, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH

Principal Functions
To provide library and information services to the UK marine science community.

Subsidiary Functions
Marine Information and Advisory Service.

General Details
The National Oceanography Library (NOL) houses one of the worlds finest marine science collections of books, reports, journals, atlases and charts. It serves the whole of UK marine science; within NERC, other government laboratories, universities and industry. Personal visits can be arranged to use the library collections, data bases and loan and copy facilities.

It also operates the Marine Information and Advisory Service. (MIAS), a unique commercial information service which provides information, data and advice to organisations with interests in the marine environment both in the UK and abroad. It has access to other NERC Marine Science Laboratories. MIAS can service a range of enquiries from requests for readily accessible information to information problems needing several days of staff consultancy (through the Advice and Consultancy Section). Where appropriate, enquirers are referred to other sources.

Services are offered on an ad hoc basis or through MIAS Subscriptions, providing advantageous access to services and facilities.

Specification
The National Oceanographic Library has some 20,000 books, 100,000 reports, 100,000 reprints, 2,500 serial titles (1,000 current) with 500 atlases and 7,000 charts and a growing collection of CD–ROMs of marine data and imagery. 280,000 references are presently held on the online data base OCEANIS, growing at some 13,000 records per year, with an additional card catalogue of 250,000 references. All references are indexed by author, subject and region. OCEANIS can be accessed remotely via the internet. It is also available for purchase as a CD–ROM.

Special Features
The MIAS Information Service and OCEANIS Help Desk are staffed continuously.

Future Plans
Present services will continue to be enhanced to include access to multimedia and full text reports. New activity will commence on building a National Marine Archive at SOC.

Availability
The facility is available to other bodies in both the private and public sector. There are no restrictions on the type of body that can apply to use the facility. At least one weeks advance notice is required when asking for time on the facility. Time on the facility is allocated for bona fide research.

Charging Basis
Published rates are available, but they can be subject to individual negotiation. There is the possibility of negotiating an exchange agreement. No charge is made for information provided to universities or for enquiries that take less than ten minutes. Photocopies can be supplied.

Contact Information
Mrs Pauline Simpson
Head of Information Services
Southampton Oceanography Centre
University of Southampton Waterfront Campus
European Way
Southampton
SO14 3ZH
Telephone: +44 (0)203 8059 6111 Fax: +44 (0)203 8059 6115
Telex:
Email:       nol@soc.soton.ac.uk and mias@soc.soton.ac.uk
Web Site:  http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/LIB/