NOAA and Navy Documents
NOAA Overview
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was created as an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce by the Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970. Its key areas of focus are:
Useful Links
NOAA's Official Website - sidebar links give a good overview of NOAA's areas of study and contain links to more in-depth, subject specific websites.
NOAA Central Library - contains documents created by NOAA and its historical precedents. Some titles are digital, but many are physical items available at the NOAA Library in Silver Springs, MD or an FDLP repository library. Non-NOAA affiliated researchers can use the collection, but special arrangements need to be made. For more information contact library.reference@noaa.gov or (301) 713-2600 ext. 157.
NOAA Digital Repository - an online collection of 17000+ born digital and digitized works. Because this contains older documents as well as current publication, you may find a few of the titles in the ODU Shared Housing collection here.
FOIA Reading Room - a collection of NOAA documents made public through Freedom of Information Act requests.
Coastal Zone Information Center Collection on govinfo.gov - documents submitted to NOAA by state coastal zone management programs (relating to the 1972 Coastal Zone Management Act)
Data Sources
National Centers for Environmental Information - "The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) host and provide access to one of the most significant archives on earth, with comprehensive oceanic, atmospheric, and geophysical data."
NOAA Documents in Selective Housing Agreement
This spreadsheet contains a list of the Virginia Federal Repository copies of NOAA documents housed in Norfolk, VA under a selective housing agreement between the University of Virginia and Old Dominion University Libraries. It contains the Title, which can be searched using the ctrl+F function, the SUDOC Call Number, which can be used to locate the item, and the OCLC number, which can be used to find the item in Worldcat by choosing the Acquistion Number option under their advanced search feature.
These items are in the C 55 call number range.
History
When NOAA was founded in 1970, it brought together three existing agencies within the government. You can find many documents pertaining to these agencies in UVA's collection.
US Coast and Geodetic Survey
Created in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson, this department aimed to accurately map the U.S. coastline. This agency was originally housed in the Treasury Department and moved to the Commerce and Labor Department in 1903. You can find its publications under the SUDOC numbers T 11 and C 4.
Weather Bureau
Founded in 1870, this agency was originally housed in the War Department under the authority of the Signal Office, since meteorological observations were taken at military stations. In 1891 these duties were transferred to the Agriculture Department with the creation of the Weather Bureau. You can find these publications in the W 42 (pre-1891) and A 29 (post-1891) SUDOC call numbers.
US Commission on Fish and Fisheries
This started out life in 1871 as an independent agency called the Fish Commission. Its original purpose was to investigate a decline in fish populations used in commercial fishing. In 1903 this was moved into the Department of Commerce and Labor, where it stayed until 1939. In 1940 it moved to the Department of the Interior and merged with the Biological Survey (formerly in the Agricultural Department and dealing primarily with birds and mammals) to form the US Fish and Wildlife Service. What had historically been the Bureau of Fisheries formed the basis of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries within the US Fish and Wildlife services. When NOAA was formed in 1970, the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries moved to this new agency in the Commerce Department and became the National Marine Fisheries Service. You can find information about the Bureau of Fisheries under the C6 and the Fish Commission in the FC 1 SUDOC call number ranges.
Other Resources
NOAA's History Site - including histories of the agencies that came together to form NOAA
Detailed Timeline of Fisheries Research within the US Government
A History of NOAA: Being a Compilation of Facts and Figures Regarding the Life and Times of the Original Earth Agency by Eileen L. Shea - includes brief summaries of many smaller agencies that were rolled into NOAA not mentioned above.