General Information	Mission	Information Center	Special Collections
Orientations and Instruction	Major Subject Areas	Collection Development	InterLibrary Loan [ILL]
Photocopying	Circulation & Registration	Online Searches
Clearing Upon Departure

The National Defense University Library at Fort McNair is located on the second floor of George C. Marshall Hall. The collection consists of over 500,000 bound volumes, pamphlets, periodicals, microforms, audio visual materials, government documents, and 50,000 classified documents. The library collections emphasize national security, strategy, international relations, management, management of information resources and mobilization of national resources.

The library provides a full range of research services and materials in an environment designed to support research and study. The library offers private study rooms, meeting/seminar rooms, study carrels and extensive reading and study areas.

"Modern wars are not internecine war, in which the killing of the enemy is the object. The destruction of the enemy, and indeed, modern war itself, are means to obtain that object of the belligerent which lies beyond the war."
---U.S. War Department General Orders No. 100, 24 April 1863

(REVISE)The National Defense University (NDU) Library collects, organizes, preserves and disseminates classified and unclassified information resources in support of NDU's military education mission. The Library serves as a definitive source in the subject areas of defense management, national security policy, military strategy, mobilization and civilian-military affairs.

"A general should possess a perfect knowledge of the localities where he is carrying on a war."
---Niccolo Machiavelli, 1531-1596

The Library provides a number of different approaches to orientation and instruction to meet the various needs of the users. This service is arranged in coordination with the Chief of Research and Information Services.

Guided tours are offered to new students, researchers, and faculty upon request.

Group library instruction for individual classes may be arranged. Group orientations are intensive and may include a tour of the facilities with an explanation for using the resources.

Concentrated or introductory group instructional sessions designed to fit a particular research or seminar topic can be conducted either in the Library or the classroom.

"The Joint Chiefs of Staff system is unique among all known systems for the strategic direction of a war. It has brought victory where other systems have failed. It has withstood the all important test of war."
---Arleigh Burke, 1956

The Library develops collections capable of supporting independent research and study in the following subject areas:

• Defense Industrial Policy Studies
• Foreign Policy
• Geo-Political Studies
• Information-based Warfare
• Information Resources Management
• Joint and Combined Warfare
• Military Strategy
• Mobilization
• National Security Strategy

The Library also develops major collections supporting academic studies in these broad areas.

• Automated Information Systems Management
• National Economic Policy
• Military Studies
• Acquisitions and Program Management
• Information Technology
• Selected Regional Studies

"The winner is asked no questions -- the loser has to answer for everything."
---Sir Ian Hamilton, 1920

National Defense University has a library collection development policy which guides the library staff in building library collections relevant to University needs. This policy has been approved by the University's Library Panel and copies are available upon request.

The collection development policy addresses many needs within the Library and within the University.

• Foremost, it creates stronger collections.
• As a long range planning tool it identifies and documents the priorities and goals of the Library.
• As an information tool it communicates to the users and to the chain of command the scope and nature of the collections, the support they provide and the Library's plans for continued development.
• As an accountability tool it allows limited funds to be better used and provides a measure of accountability for the use of public funds.
• As a selection tool it forms the basis for the selection policy, thus enabling those doing selection to work with greater consistency toward defined goals.

The policy is derived from the best principles and practices of the contemporary academic library community.

"Although the war is over, we are in the midst of a cold war which is getting warmer."
---Bernard M Baruch, 1948

Copying of Library materials is subject to the Copyright Law; the law, manpower, and other restrictions prevent Library staff from providing copying service. Self-service copiers are available to University personnel only.

For NDU users [i.e., staff, faculty and students], self service copying machines can be found at the locations shown on the floor plan.

Visitors needing copying services should consider the use of interlibrary loan as an alternative to paying the copying costs specified in AR 37-60, Appendix B.

"Diplomacy is utterly useless where there is no force behind it."
---Theodore Roosevelt, 1897

All University personnel must clear the Library in person prior to their final departure. Fort McNair residents and MDW employees must also clear in person. 'Self clearance' from NDU Library is not authorized. Both the Information Center and the Classified Documents Center must be cleared in person. All Library materials charged to an individual must be returned before final out processing can be completed. Timely return of materials throughout the year as you finish with them and early return at the end of the year will expedite the clearance processing.

"The onus of supply rests equally on the giver and the taker."
---George S. Patton, 1947

To place a request:

• Fill out an ILL Request Form at the Information Center
• See a Reference Librarian
• Use the ILL Form and give to a Reference Librarian
• or, Use the electronic e-mail form

Materials not owned by the Library may be borrowed for your use from other libraries through interlibrary loan service. The Library has access to the collections of over 13,000 libraries as well as internet, a number of online databases and document delivery services to provide materials not available in the library. Interlibrary loans may be requested from a Reference Librarian at the Information Center .

You will be notified electronically when the item you requested has arrived. Please pick up the item immediately and return it on or before the due date. Pickup the item at the Information Center.

The NDU Library participates in an interlibrary loan system based on the American Library Association Interlibrary Loan Code and we adhere to the OCLC standards for ILL. To maintain responsive relations with other participating libraries, it is essential that materials borrowed be returned on or before the specified date.

"The day of total war has passed...From now on limited military operations are the only ones which could conceivably serve any coherent purpose."
---George F. Kennan, 1954

The Information Center, located immediately inside the Library entrance, is the focal point of all services and activities for the main level of the Library.

Assistance from the Information Center can be obtained in person or from stacks phones located strategically throughout the Library.

"Political power emanates from the barrel of a gun."
---Mao Tse-tung, 1937

Patron registration and check-in/out services are offered throughout the Library's hours. An easy-to-use self-checkout station is located next to the Information Center.

Materials available for loan include books and videocassettes. Reference books, cd-roms and other computer software, journals, and microforms are not loaned.

Materials are checked out for a 30 day period; you may renew materials if there are no outstanding requests. Renewals may be requested over the phone or in person, you don't need the item with you to renew it. Each user is responsible for the materials borrowed they checked out from the Library until they have been returned to the Library. If you check it out, give it to someone else, and the materials are lost, you are still responsible.

You may place a reserve/recall on any Library materials already in circulation; the staff will recall the item and notify you of its availability. When you receive a recall notice for an item in your possession please finish with it and return it quickly and directly to the Information Center.

Borrowed materials should be returned to the Library when you have completed your use of them. They may be returned to the Information Center.

"The central concept of modern strategy is deterrence."
---Abba Eban, 1965

If you have a topic or question on which you would like to request a search, you should begin by talking with one of the reference librarians at the Information Center to determine whether a computer search is appropriate.

To Be Prepared:

• Have a clear idea of the subject you want searched, how much material you need and how it is to be used. Be specific.
• Search paper indexes for potential terms to be used in your search. Provide synonyms, closely related phrases and alternate spellings. Include professional jargon in your search statement, and the same information in layman's terms. Define acronyms.
• Define the time period to be covered.
• Give the reference librarian enough time to provide you with the product you want. Give yourself enough time to locate and use the articles, reports, etc. listed in the bibliography. Online searches often provide information on items not held by the NDU Library. Through interlibrary loans you can borrow the items from other libraries, but this process takes time.
• Search results can be emailed to you or printed out. Printouts are picked up from the Information Center.

  see also: Online Search Request Form (link to form which can be printed)

see also: Online Search Request Form

"Under all circumstances, a decisive naval superiority is to be considered a fundamental principle, and the basis upon which all hope of success must ultimately be based.
---George Washington, 1780

The library's Special Collections, Archives, and History Branch is the repository for personal papers, rare books, academic history materials, student papers, historical photographs, maps, prints, and artifacts. The manuscript collection contains primarily the personal papers of 20th-century military leaders, to include those of former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Supreme Allied Commanders, Europe. Local history files on Fort McNair, together with records of the institutional history of National Defense University and its constituent colleges, are maintained in Special Collections.

Access to the Library's Special Collections,Archives, and History materials is provided through the Special Collections, Archives, and History office in Room 319, upper level of the Library.