The NALDR provides access to publications either digitized by NAL or through NAL’s partnerships with other institutions. The majority of the publications available in the NALDR were published by the USDA. Examples include the Agriculture Information Bulletin, the Agricultural Economic Report, and the Yearbook of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A complete list of full-text publications is provided on the Publications - Additional Information page.
The NALDR utilizes ZyLAB's ZyIMAGE system, which includes optical character recognition processing to convert images into searchable text and a Web interface to display and print/download documents. In addition to searching the NALDR Web site, you can also search for publications through the NAL Catalog (AGRICOLA). Each publication in the NALDR is linked to an AGRICOLA record (see Help for additional information on searching).
The metadata (called Document/Publication Details) that is displayed with each NALDR publication was imported from the corresponding AGRICOLA record. Scanning specifications are provided on the NAL Preservation page.
The NALDR was made available to the public in April 2006. Publications are added on an ongoing basis--check the Spotlights section of the home page for information on new additions or connect to the RSS feed. See Getting Started...for tips on navigating.
Agriculture Handbook United States Department of Agriculture. Volumes 1 to 300 and a few other volumes of the Agriculture Handbook are available in the repository. NAL is currently digitizing the remaining volumes (through number 724) and will add them to the repository in 2008. See Publications - Additional Information for a complete list.
Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Shipments USDA. Agricultural Marketing Service. These reports are arranged by commodities, states, and months and include the annual shipment summaries for Midwestern, Southern and Western cities. Funding for digitization has been provided by Fruit and Vegetable Market News. See Tables of Contents to browse the reports currently available.
Journal of Agricultural Research (JAR) United States Department of Agriculture. JAR, which was published in 78 volumes from 1913 to 1946, contains research conducted by USDA Agricultural Research Service. NAL digitized the volumes in 1997 and is currently providing access to them at: http://preserve.nal.usda.gov/jag/.
We are also working on adding JAR to this repository, where it will be full-text searchable, easier to display and print, and each article will be linked to the online catalog, AGRICOLA. Our goal is to offer this expanded access to JAR in 2008. In the meantime, please contact us with any questions regarding access to the journal.
Technical Bulletin United States Department of Agriculture. As part of its "Organic Roots" project, the NAL's Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) funded digitization of approximately 186 issues of the USDA Technical Bulletin that were published before 1942 and relate to organic agriculture (see Organic Agriculture Information Access). NAL is processing the image files to add to the NALDR and also digitizing other issues of the bulletin as funding becomes available. See Tables of Contents to browse the bulletins currently available.
World's Poultry Congress Proceedings World's Poultry Science Association.
The World's Poultry Science Association (WPSA) was established in 1912. It is one of the oldest international poultry organizations in existence. A group of 19 individuals from 14 countries decided to hold an international meeting of those involved in the poultry industry and poultry sciences. The First World's Poultry Congress was held in the Hague, Netherlands in 1921, where the idea of international cooperation was established. The main objectives of the association are to promote the advancement and exchange of knowledge in all areas of poultry science and poultry industry. The 1st to 20th (1921 to 1996) proceedings of the World's Poultry Science Association Conferences are available in the repository. Funding for digitization was provided by the World's Poultry Science Association.
See Tables of Contents to browse the proceedings. This project was completed in May 2008.
Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture United States Department of Agriculture.
The main purpose of the Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture was to summarize USDA’s research developments. However, the Yearbook, which was published (with a couple of exceptions) annually from 1894 to 1992, has a broad appeal outside of the scientific community. In fact, Congress passed a law to provide for its publication as part of an effort to make agricultural information more readily available to farmers and other interested citizens. Go to the Tables of Contents page and select Yearbook of Agriculture Part 1 (includes 1894 to 1937) or Yearbook of Agriculture Part 2 (includes 1938 to 1992) to browse the volumes. This project was completed in July 2007.
The Bean Improvement Cooperative (BIC) Digitizing Project
The addition of the Bean Improvement Cooperative Annual Reports and the Bean Improvement Cooperative and National Dry Bean Research Association Proceedings Conference to the NALDR is one result of an 11-year collaboration between NAL and BIC. With funding provided by the BIC in 2006, NAL completed digitization of the annual report (through volume 49) and conference proceedings, and added all of the volumes to the repository.
This new resource includes significant information about the improvement of bean varieties, production and processing that is not readily available elsewhere. Go to the Tables of Contents page and select Bean Improvement Cooperative Annual Report or Proceedings. The project was completed in August 2006.
The Rural Development Publication Digitizing Project
The Rural Development Publication Digitizing Project was the first endeavor of the NALDR. With funding provided by the Rural Information Center at NAL, the full text of publications that relate to rural development in America were added, including the entire series of Rural Development Research Reports, Rural Development Perspectives, Agricultural Economic Reports, and Agriculture Information Bulletins, as well as selected Economic Research Staff Reports and the first 300 volumes of Agriculture Handbooks. Go to Publications--Additional Information to view a list of all publications in the repository. The project was completed in February 2006.
The World's Poultry Science Association (WPSA) was established in 1912. It is one of the oldest international poultry organizations in existence. A group of 19 individuals from 14 countries decided to hold an international meeting of those involved in the poultry industry and poultry sciences. The First World's Poultry Congress was held in the Hague, Netherlands in 1921, where the idea of international cooperation was established. The main objectives of the association are to promote the advancement and exchange of knowledge in all areas of poultry science and poultry industry. The 1st to 20th (1921 to 1996) proceedings of the World's Poultry Science Association Conferences are available in the repository. Funding for digitization was provided by the
The main purpose of the Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture was to summarize USDA’s research developments. However, the Yearbook, which was published (with a couple of exceptions) annually from 1894 to 1992, has a broad appeal outside of the scientific community. In fact, Congress passed a law to provide for its publication as part of an effort to make agricultural information more readily available to farmers and other interested citizens. Go to the 
The addition of the Bean Improvement Cooperative Annual Reports and the Bean Improvement Cooperative and National Dry Bean Research Association Proceedings Conference to the NALDR is one result of an 11-year collaboration between NAL and BIC. With funding provided by the 
The Rural Development Publication Digitizing Project was the first endeavor of the NALDR. With funding provided by the 
