in August. Library staff redesigned the Annual 

 Publication List, implementing new NWRC graphics. 



Information Services Unit staff borrowed, 

 photocopied, or downloaded more than 1,000 

 items from other libraries in response to information 

 requests from the WS program and lent 142 items 

 in return. Additionally, staff photocopied nearly 

 2,273 inhouse journal articles, reports, and NWRC- 

 authored reprints for distribution to researchers and 

 WS Operations staff. More than 1,000 copies each 

 of the NWRC-produced annual accomplishments 

 report, Research Update, and Publication List 

 were mailed. More than 10,000 other NWRC 

 or WS information products were distributed, 

 including children's activity sheets, factsheets, and 

 information packets. 



NWRC Web Site — Extensive work was directed 

 toward reformatting and organizing NWRC's Web- 

 based information into the new USDA-required Web 

 template. In addition to updating and reorganizing 

 project and program content pages, the NWRC 

 Webmaster renamed several hundred photos and 

 resized them to meet new guidelines. 



Archives — The mission of the NWRC Archives/ 

 Records Management Unit is to collect, preserve, 

 and make available the research records and 

 materials that document the history of NWRC. To 

 that end, much of the Unit's work in the past year 

 focused on tasks to organize and make accessible 

 historical records. The Unit also highlighted, in 

 exhibits and staff-outreach activities, materials that 

 tell the story of NWRC's research. 



The Sixth Annual NWRC Archives Week, from 

 October 2 through 2006, was a time to internally 

 publicize NWRC archival records. An open house 

 in October featured exhibits and a presentation on 

 the Center's telemetry research. 



To learn more about trapping and hunting practices in the past, 

 NWRC initiated an oral history project in which both retirees and 

 current WS employees were interviewed. (Photo from the USDA's 

 Bureau of Biological Survey files dating to the 1920s-30s.) 



hallway exhibit provides an opportunity to highlight 

 both current and past research to visitors and staff. 



Trapping Oral History Initiative — This initiative, 

 the brainchild of NWRC's Dr. John Shivik, began 

 in 2005 as a WS collaborative effort between 

 Operations and the NWRC. With its focus on 

 interviewing retired and current WS employees, 

 the initiative emphasizes the trapping and hunting 

 aspects of the program. The idea of the interviews 

 grew out of conversations between John and field 

 personnel, who noted the loss of knowledge as 

 people retired or passed on. 



In 2005 and 2006, Nancy Freeman and Diana 

 Dv\/yer, both members of NWRC's Information 

 Services unit, conducted 24 interviews, mainly 

 in the West. Additional interviews are planned 

 for covering the eastern part of the United States 

 in 2007-08 if funding becomes available. The 

 transcribed interviews will become part of the 

 NWRC Archives. 



Archives staff developed and displayed a hallway 

 exhibit on NWRC's rodent research. The exhibit 

 focused on the Center's past and present rodent 

 research, including current work on the eradication 

 of the Gambian giant pouched rat in Florida. The 



The overriding similarity in the interviews is that the 

 current and retired employees loved their work. 

 They may not have liked everything about it, but 

 overwhelmingly, they say they'd have worked for no one 

 else and would not have done any other type of work. 



58 Information and Communication 



