The International Institute of Tropical Forestry, established their Library for the first time in 1939. The Institute's Library specializes in tropical forestry around the world and has been collecting, organizing, and delivering the best science available to the local, national, and international audience. As of 2007, it is one of two specialized libraries within the National Forest Service Library Program, the other being the Forest Products Laboratory Library.

Photo Credit

USDA Forest Service photo.

Gisel Reyes, Research Assistant and JoAnne Feheley, Head Librarian at the International Institute of Tropical Forestry Library, 1980's

• The IITF Library Branch physical collections comprise over 20,000 information resources including books, journals, proceedings, maps, grey literature, and photos.
• Specializes in tropical forestry around the world, with emphasis on New World Tropics, forest management and conservation, and the effects from climate change.
• Contains scientific literature in print, digital & film format, in Spanish and English.
• Includes reference books, print journal titles, rare books, conference proceedings, and serves as a repository for publications by IITF scientists since 1939.
• Houses a historical archive with documents and photos from the early 1900s up to today documenting USFS and IITF field work in Puerto Rico, many of which have been used in several publications.

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Photo Credit

USDA Preston Keres (Forest Service Librarian Team at the International Institute of Tropical Forestry Library, 2022)

 

"...Our biggest contribution, is to serve our colleagues and to conserve the historically unique collections that have been growing since 1939 about the Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgins Islands landscape."

                                                                                          - Yariliz Quiles Martínez, IITF Library branch Director

NFSL: For FS employees
The National Forest Service Library provides a full range of professional reference and research services available to Forest Service employees.

DigiTop: For USDA employees
DigiTop is a service of the National Agricultural Library (NAL) delivering licensed electronic resources to authorized USDA users.

Open Access Resources

NFSL Public Catalog
This integrated catalog allows users to search the collections of all three branches as well as links to electronic subscriptions. Some materials may be limited to US Forest Service employees or certain library branches.  

NFSL Digital Collections
Provides access to non-peer-reviewed US Forest Service publications. The content of these publications may be incomplete or superseded. It is the responsibility of the user to verify the accuracy of the information provided. 

The Caribbean Forester
A quarterly journal, published from 1939 to 1963, dedicated to tropical forestry research from Puerto Rico and Caribbean Basin countries. 

National Agricultural Library
The National Agricultural Library (NAL) houses one of the world's largest collections devoted to agriculture and its related sciences.

IITF Library Branch Donations Policy and Statement of Agreement

1. The International Institute of Tropical Forestry (IITF) Library branch is a research library specializing in tropical forestry. We accept donations that:
   • Reflect the interests and needs of our research community,
   • Complement our current library reference and scientific journals collections, or
   • Enrich our History of Forestry in Puerto Rico repository.
2. Prospective donors should send a list including a complete description of the item(s) that are proposed to be donated. Please include the following information for the following resources:  
   • Books: Author name, complete title of the book, publishing date, and ISBN.
   • Journals: Complete title of the paper/article, volume and number, and publishing date.
   • Personal papers: Brief description of content.
   • Photos and other audiovisual materials: Brief description and date range.
3. Once the list is received, the Library staff will check which items are already in our collection, and if the proposed donation complies with description included in item #1. At a later date, we will inform the donor which items will be accepted.
4. The Library branch reserves the right to determine the retention, location, cataloging treatment, and other considerations related to the use or disposition of all donations.
5. The Library branch assumes no responsibility for appraisal of donated items, nor can the Library accept items under restricted conditions.

Statement of agreement

The donated items will be the property of the IITF Library branch. Therefore, the Library will be able to:

• Decide where to place the items
• Digitize for preservation
• Discard the item(s), if and when that is determined  

By offering the IITF Library my information resources as a donation, I certify that I have read and that I agree with the stipulations above.

Submit your list with the Statement of agreement to sm.fs.iitflibrary@usda.gov.