Tina M. Tincher smiles whenever someone asks her about her job with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

"People are genuinely intrigued when I explain that I am the librarian in a library filled exclusively with information on fish," said Tincher.

In librarian terminology, the Fisheries Division Library is a "small, special library" run by a solo librarian. In other words, the entire library staff consists of one professional librarian and the collection is very specialized and used primarily for research purposes.

"The library has a very unique collection and is probably unduplicated by any other library in the world," said DNR Fisheries Division Chief Kelley Smith.

The library was established in 1930 as part of the Institute for Fisheries Research (IFR), which was created through a cooperative agreement by the Michigan Department of Conservation, the American Wildlife Institute and the University of Michigan. It still resides in its original location in the Museums Annex Building on the U-M Central Campus in Ann Arbor.

Management and maintenance of the library was the responsibility of the IFR secretary for more than 60 years. That changed in the early 1990s, when funding was secured to hire a professional librarian to run the library and bring the collection up to current library standards.

Tincher, who received her masters of information and library science degree from Michigan, was hired as the librarian in 1992.

She said the largest collection in the Fisheries Division Library consists of more than 15,000 scientific reports and articles reprinted from a wide range of scientific journals.

"These come from all over the world," Tincher said. "Some are purchased and others are obtained through an exchange agreement with other institutions."

The book collection consists of approximately 900 volumes, and all relate to fishery science and natural resources. The library subscribes to 14 journals and various magazines and newsletters that provide historical and current insight on field techniques, trends in research, public attitudes and fishery management strategies.

The collection given highest priority in terms of preservation is that of the publications produced by the DNR Fisheries Division. A complete collection of these documents is not kept anywhere else, making it imperative to protect them.

This collection dates back to the beginning of the IFR and includes more than 5,000 fisheries research, technical, special and status of the fishery resource reports, as well as reprints, historic bulletins, pamphlets, management reports and other documents.

"I created an archival collection of these documents that will prolong their life and keep them available for years to come," Tincher said. "Each document is placed in its own acid-free folder to slow down the process that causes paper to become brittle, and the folders are stored in archival-quality boxes to protect against dust and light exposure."

Some boxes are kept on ordinary library shelves, but those containing the rarest items are kept in locked, metal cabinets, which secures them from theft and protects against heat or water damage should a disaster occur in the building.

"Although these measures will help preserve the collection for future use, I also have taken steps to make the collection more accessible," said Tincher.

The first step was to have all Fisheries Division publications reproduced in a microfiche format and copies were distributed to all division offices around the state.

"Then, as use of the Internet increased, my next step was to make these publications easily available to the world," Tincher said.

The library's online collection of documents can be accessed on the DNR Web site at www.michigan.gov/dnr under the Fishing section. Click on Research to find the Fisheries Library page.

The Web site includes lists of journal holdings, various reports (some with links to abstracts or full-text PDF), articles Fisheries staff have had published in peer-reviewed journals (reprints), some of the first biennial reports of the State Fish Commission from the late 1800s and annual reports required by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service for projects that have received Federal Aid to Sport Fish Restoration funds.

In addition to preserving the collection and making it accessible in various formats, Tincher also is responsible for providing reference services. The library, she said, is used primarily by DNR fisheries biologists and by the faculty, staff and students of the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment and the Exhibit Museum of Natural History.

"However, researchers and fisheries biology students from around the world also contact me for assistance once they have discovered their institution's library doesn't hold the materials they require," Tincher said.

She has received requests from local watershed councils, independent consulting firms in Washington, law firms in New York, researchers in Canada, fisheries biologists in Poland and PhD students in India.

"The library is open for public use only by appointment, so patrons typically will call or e-mail me their reference questions with a narrative about their project," Tincher explained. "I then compose and execute a search strategy using the Fisheries Division Library catalog, the U-M Library catalog and various commercial databases."

Once this list has been compiled, Tincher will send it to the researcher, who is able to select the specific documents that may assist their research.

"The Fisheries Division Library has a reputation of being a unique and comprehensive collection of historical and current fisheries information and it is my pleasure, not just my job, to assist patrons and ensure the library is managed and maintained for future use," she said.