Librarian's Environmental Toolkit

Includes links to environmental science databases.

Online, open access library of biodiversity literature.

Provides easy access to thousands of documents, including hazard characterizations, alternative assessments, test data submitted to EPA, and TSCA regulatory actions. Includes summary information with links to more detailed information, e.g., the submitted study or Federal Register notice.

Provides single chemical toxicity information for aquatic and terrestrial life.

Database on fish systematics.

H2infO provides a single entry point for access to quality U.S.-based water-related resources that contribute to solutions for global water challenges. This web portal shares a broad range of resources developed by U.S. Water Partnership members that can be used by stakeholders around the world.

A list of pesticide properties databases maintained by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The databases have been selected because they are regularly updated and because they apply quality control to the data which are included.

PubChem is the world's largest collection of freely accessible chemical information. Search chemicals by name, molecular formula, structure, and other identifiers. Find chemical and physical properties, biological activities, safety and toxicity information, patents, literature citations and more. A service of the National Library of Medicine.

U.S. EPA databases with information about environmental effects, environmental fate, health effects, and regulatory information related to pesticides.

The Alternative Fuels Data Center offers a large collection of helpful tools. These calculators, interactive maps, and data searches can assist fleets, fuel providers, and other transportation decision makers in their efforts to reduce petroleum use.

Find publications about alternative transportation, including alternative fuels, advanced vehicles, and regulated fleets.

The ATSDR ToxFAQs™ is a series of summaries about hazardous substances. Information for this series is excerpted from the ATSDR Toxicological Profiles. Each fact sheet serves as a quick and easy to understand guide. Answers are provided to the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) about exposure to hazardous substances found around hazardous waste sites and the effects of exposure on human health.

The ATSDR ToxGuides™ are quick reference guides providing information such as chemical and physical properties, sources of exposure, routes of exposure, minimal risk levels, children's health, and health effects. They also discuss how the substance might interact in the environment. They were developed by the ATSDR Division of Toxicology and and Human Health Sciences. Information is excerpted from the corresponding toxicological profiles.

Toxicological Profiles (Tox Profiles) are a unique compilation of toxicological information on a given hazardous substance. Each peer-reviewed Tox Profile reflects a comprehensive and extensive evaluation, summary, and interpretation of available toxicological and epidemiological information on a substance.

This centralized data repository for biomass archives economic and geospatial data about: marine biofuels, aviation fuels from biomass, biomass-power, and high-octane fuels. Additional topics include the Billion-Ton data, and standards for bioenergy. Maintained by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

This library contains research reports produced by the Building America program and other building science resources used to support this Solution Center. The materials cover both new construction and existing homes. Use the search box and/or the filters to explore hundreds of residential building resources.

The Congressional Research Service, a component of the Library of Congress, conducts research and analysis for Congress on a broad range of national policy issues.

This compact disc (CD) contains the 35 reports in the Contaminant Hazard Reviews (CHR) that were published originally between 1985 and 1999 in the U.S. Department of the Interior Biological Report series. The CD was produced because printed supplies of these reviews--a total of 105,000--became exhausted and demand remained high. Each review was prepared at the request of environmental specialists of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and each contained specific information on the following: mirex, cadmium, carbofuran, toxaphene, selenium, chromium, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, diazinon, mercury, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, arsenic, chlorpyrifos, lead, tin, index issue, pentachlorophenol, atrazine, molybdenum, boron, chlordane, paraquat, cyanide, fenvalerate, diflubenzuron, zinc, famphur, acrolein, radiation, sodium monofluoroacetate, planar PCBs, silver, copper, nickel, and a cumulative index to chemicals and species. Each report reviewed and synthesized the technical literature on a single contaminant and its effects on terrestrial plants and invertebrates, aquatic plants and animals, avian and mammalian wildlife, and other natural resources. The subtopics include contaminant sources and uses; physical, chemical, and metabolic properties; concentrations in field collections of abiotic materials and living organisms; deficiency effects, where appropriate; lethal and sublethal effects, including effects on survival, growth, reproduction, metabolism, mutagenicity, teratogenicity, and carcinogenicity; proposed criteria for the protection of human health and sensitive natural resources; and recommendations for additional research. It isn't clear whether the CD is still available from USGS. Individual publications and the CD may be available for interlibrary loan from individual libraries. Check WorldCat for holdings.

H2infO provides a single entry point for access to quality U.S.-based water-related resources that contribute to solutions for global water challenges. This web portal shares a broad range of resources developed by U.S. Water Partnership members that can be used by stakeholders around the world.

An alphabetical list of chemicals that have either a validated or partially validated OSHA method. Some chemicals may be listed by their common synonym. The index includes the method number, validation status, CAS no., analytical instrument and sampling device. A key for abbreviations is located at the end of the index.

A human health assessment program that evaluates information on health effects that may result from exposure to environmental contaminants. Contains information on more than 550 chemical substances.

The librarians at the Prairie Research Institute have created the subject guides and bibliographies listed here to help you get started with research, both on the Internet and at your local library.

A series of guides created by subject experts from Science Reference Services (part of the Science, Technology and Business Division). This area of the Library of Congress is the principal location for research in the areas of science, technology, technical reports, and standards.

The Library of Congress Science Tracer Bullet series (ISSN 0090-5232) was an informal and irregular series of library pathfinders published from 1972-2013. They were designed to help someone begin to locate research materials on a subject about which they held only general knowledge.

A free, web-based, searchable compendium of environmental methods. NEMI is maintained under the direction of the Methods and Data Comparability Board, a partnership of water-quality experts from Federal agencies, States, municipalities, industry, and private organizations.

Links to articles and journals, databases, protocols, and other information provided to researchers by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences.

The Data Gateway enables users to find funding data, metrics, and information about research, education, and extension projects that have received grant awards from NIFA.

The National Science Digital Library provides high quality online educational resources for teaching and learning, with current emphasis on the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines—both formal and informal, institutional and individual, in local, state, national, and international educational settings.

Digital archive of EPA's publications. Also searchable via Google using their site search feature. Type your search terms into the Google search box, followed by site:epa.gov.

This government website includes information on technical reports of government sponsored research and provides citations for finding full text.

The NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation (HHE) program helps employees, employers, and unions recognize and control health hazards in their workplace. For on-site evaluations, findings are published online (without company or employee names) in NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation Reports. Reports are searchable by keyword, state, industry category and subcategory, or health effect.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the federal institute responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

OSTI.gov is the primary search tool for DOE science, technology, and engineering research and development results and the organizational hub for information about the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information.

The OurEnergyLibrary aggregates and indexes publicly available fact sheets, journal articles, reports, studies, and other publications on U.S. energy topics. It is updated every week to include the most recent energy resources from academia, government, industry, non-profits, think tanks, and trade associations.

Searchable online collection of more than 50,000 pollution prevention (P2) related publications, fact sheets, case studies and technical reports.

Chemicals phased out of production, such as PFOA and PFOS, are often replaced by similar chemicals with less research on their toxicity. To address these potentially regrettable substitutes, the PFAS-Tox Database allows quick access to health and toxicology studies on PFAS chemicals that are less well known than PFOA and PFOS.

Indexes U.S. federal government repositories, including NASA, DOE, EPA, USDA, USFS, USGS, and many others. An excellent resource for grey literature.

Under Title VI of the Clean Air Act, the SNAP program identifies and evaluates substitutes in end-uses that have historically used ozone-depleting substances (ODS). SNAP listings of acceptable alternatives can also help sectors transition away from high global warming potential hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) addressed under the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act including its Technology Transitions Program.

Includes a wealth of risk assessment resources.

Links to the U.S. DOE's most recently developed software tools.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the "congressional watchdog," GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. Join their mailing list to receive a daily update of reports released by the agency.

This is a Wikipedia list of scholarly, peer-reviewed academic journals focused on the biophysical environment and/or humans' relations with it. Inclusion of journals focused on the built environment is appropriate. Included in this list are journals from a wide variety of interdisciplinary fields including from the environmental sciences, environmental social sciences, environmental humanities, etc.