Island-Focused Mission: Institutional Development and Environmental Information
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Island Resources Library Holdings
Island Resources Foundation, with the help of the Eastern Caribbean Center of the University of the Virgin Islands and a variety of other resources, is in the process of cataloguing its extensive collection (over 10,000 items) of island-specific environmental documents. To increase the accessibility to other researchers throughout the world, this catalogue is being created in the UNESCO-standard CDS/ISIS system.
One-fourth of the Foundation's Library -- mostly those documents addressing specific island issues, such as the 1971 Development Plan for the Turks and Caicos by Shanklin and Cox--are now on-line and searchable at: http://ioc.unesco.org:591/irfbib . Help yourself.
A copy of the catalogue is available on diskette on request, and we look forward to the day when the entire catalogue can be searched on the Internet. In meantime, the library is open (as it has always been) to all researchers--please call us at 340/775-6225 to arrange to use the facilities. In addition, we can provide search and copying services by experienced library technicians at reasonable fees.
Contact the Foundation at irf@irf.org to assist us to expand the Library Cataloguing process in its NEW HOME at 123 Main Street, Road Town, Tortola.
The Washington Office of the Foundation mirrors approximately 25% of the main Library's holdings. Call 202/265-9712 to use the DC Library.
For commercial or funded users, you may want to take advantage of our library services, which are detailed here.
Library & Office Services and Information Retrieval Fee Schedule
For Visiting Consultants and Independent Researchers [An appointment will allow the Foundation to assign a staff member for the use of the library; minimum half hour fee payable before departure.]
LIBRARY USE
US$25/hour Caribbean-based non-profit firms and government agencies
US$50/hour All other firms and agencies
RESEARCH ASSISTANCE: Foundation Staff
US$25/half.hour routine shelf search and document retrieval
US$20/hall.hour computer search (printouts @ US$ 1.00/page)
US$50/holf.hour senior staff consultation, search and document retrieval
US$20/hour staff time for photocopying and binding
PHOTOCOPYING PAGE RATE
US 25 cents per page, up to 100 pages
US 20 cents per page, over 100 pages
Additional charge for over-sized maps, plates, fold-out pages.
BINDING WITH PLASTIC COVERS (optional)
US$3.00 per document under 1/2" thick
US$4.00 per document over 5/8" thick
US$5.00 per document over I" thick
SHIPPING
Handling and shipping charges are additional. Please specify preferred method or carrier.
OFFICE FACILITIES
Access to desk space with computer/printer can be provided on a space available basis at a
rate of US$25/person/day.
NOTE: The above rates do not apply to Island Resources Foundation's own publications and documents (see "List of Publications" at
THE ISLAND SYSTEMS ENVIRONMENTAL LIBRARY
of
H. Lavity Stoutt Community College
and Island Resources Foundation
123 Main Street, Road Town, Tortola, BVI
Telephone: 284.494.2723
What Makes the Island Systems Environmental Library Distinctive?
- Its unique SMALL ISLAND focus.
- Its use of environmental issues, resource problems and development planning needs as a focusing device.
- Its interdisciplinary scope and open architecture.
- Its emphasis on ecosystems as an organizing framework.
- Its emphasis on access to historical data for setting environmental baselines, tracking environmental indicators and quantifying environmental change.
How Is The Island Systems Environmental Library Organized?
Conceptually within an ISLAND ECOSYSTEM management base (i.e., island + coast + sea + people + institutions);
Geographically (or spatially) with an emphasis on places, landscape assemblages and resources (e.g., BVI, watersheds, marinas, reefs, hotels);
Topically, focusing on information needed for decision making about resource use, resource impacts and resource management (e.g., marine pollution, tourism impact, development).
Where Did the Island Systems Environmental Library Come From?
The nucleus was the personal library of Dr. Edward Towle, former president and currently chairman of the board of trustees of the Island Resources Foundation. Dr. Towle founded Island Resources Foundation in 1972, and his personal library laid the groundwork for what would emerge as the Foundation's insular-focused environmental reference collection.
When the Foundation was first organized in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, a priority library acquisition list of regional environmental study subjects was developed that focused on tourism, coastal resource management, marine pollution, land use management, parks and protected areas, marine recreation, beaches, coral reefs, coastal erosion, environmental impact assessment, and environmental planning.
In addition to collecting documentation since 1972 on these priority subjects, at both an island-specific and Caribbean regional level, each of the over 150 projects developed and implemented by the Foundation during the last quarter century has involved the assembly of vast amounts of more detailed data and information, significantly adding to library holdings year by year, bit by bit, island by island, project by project. Almost every project had a budget line for documentation.
As the Foundation's library became better known among neighboring islands, regional institutions, government agencies and international bodies, and as the Foundation developed its own publication series, exchange arrangements became possible, which also added to the Foundation's ability to acquire new materials for its library collection.
In 1997, the Foundation donated its unique, regionally recognized library to the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. It is currently managed by the Foundation at a facility provided by the College in Road Town, Tortola, pending its eventual relocation to the College's Paraquita Bay campus and probable integration with the library of the College's Centre for Applied Marine Studies.
Why Did Island Resources Foundation Transfer Its Library to the Community College?
How Will the Library Fit into the College's Overall Development?
First, the library's strong emphasis on marine resources and on coastal and marine resource documentation on islands in the wider Caribbean region will permit the immediate dedication and use of the library in support of the proposed marine training centre and programme at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College.
Secondly, the library's organizational structure and partially computerized catalog system make it user friendly to students, faculty, external consultants and visiting researchers alike.
Thirdly, the library's holdings on island systems, carrying capacity, pollution control, natural resource management and human resource development in all major sectors constitute a uniquely accessible array of new and improved environmental planning tools for both public and private sector leaders and development practitioners in the British Virgin Islands. This will in turn strengthen and enhance the public service role of the Community College regarding the formulation and implementation of improved public policy regarding sustainable development.
What Are The Physical Dimensions of the Island Systems Environmental Library?
Shelved Material: over 400 linear shelf feet of historical and contemporary books, documents, journals, reports, articles, bound and unbound impact assessments, and miscellaneous reprints in two major classes consisting of:
1. Caribbean Geographic Group: consisting primarily of the OECS states and territories, plus the wider Caribbean (100+ linear feet).
2. Caribbean Subject Matter and Topical Documentation.
(a) Major themes and issues (circa 150 linear feet) — for example, tourism, marine pollution, coastal resource management, planning guidelines, coral reefs, mangroves, sea grass, lagoons, beaches, sand mining, monitoring, coral reefs, watersheds, climate change.
(b) Lesser themes and non-Caribbean insular systems (150 linear shelf feet).
Filed Material: various categories, sorted topically, indexed.
Flat-Shelved Material (over-sized): atlases, maps, charts -- approximately 650 items including sea charts (all islands, coasts, harbors in the Caribbean), also topographic maps of the OECS states and territories, smaller islands and cays of the wider Caribbean region.
Visual Materials: miscellaneous video tapes, aerial photos, "before and after" environmental/landscape/land use slides, all islands (dating from the late 1960s), including aerial survey photographs of Anegada (full set).
Catalogue System: CDS/ISIS library cataloguing software (from UNESCO via ECLAC licensing); approximately 40% of shelved materials have been catalogued.
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Island Resources Foundation
is a charter member of the
Global Islands Network