Overview of the Collection
The WRCA collection primarily contains published and archival materials with an emphasis on freshwater quality, supply, and development, wastewater treatment, wetlands and estuaries, climate, and coastal zone management. The materials cover a broad spectrum of municipal, industrial, agricultural, environmental, biological, law, and engineering issues. Holdings of approximately 140,000 items concentrate on California and the western U.S., but also include extensive material from all 50 states as well as internationally.

Access to the Collection
Search for WRCA holdings in the OskiCat catalog. These records are also represented in the University of California's Union catalog, Melvyl, and the Melvyl/OCLC Next-Gen Pilot.

WRCA is actively populating a full-text online repository on California Digital Library's eScholarship initiative. eScholarship currently hosts full-text PDF files of the Water Resources Center's Technical Completion Reports (TCRs) and graduate student papers from two of Professor Kondolf's Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning courses: Hydrology for Planners (LA222) & Restoration of Rivers and Streams (LA227). These collections will be updated as new materials become available and new collections may be added in the future. WRCA will continue to collect and catalog physical copies of these materials. A link to the electronic document will be present in the Melvly record. [More information on WRCA's eScholarship repository.]

Archival and Manuscript Collections
Archival collections are cataloged, many to the item level, and can be found by searching OskiCat or Melvyl (see links above). Electronic finding aids (aka, collection guides) to many of WRCA's collections of archival, manuscript, and photograph materials are available through the California Digital Library's Online Archive of California. The physical location of individual collections (many are stored off-site) can also be determined by checking the "Shelf Location" under the Descriptive Summary section of each finding aid. A link to the finding aid will be displayed in a collection's catalog record when applicable. Also, consult the alphabetical list of all WRCA archival and manuscript collections, which includes the call number, physical location, and links to individual finding aids.

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About WRCA Call Numbers
In 1962, WRCA developed a classification scheme for materials in the field of water. The scheme begins with a section for materials with a geographical bias. It is expanded for California and western U.S. regions. Classification numbers in the geographical section are preceeded by G and have an implied decimal point after the third digit. Materials with a subject bias are classified with a numeric designation.

The second line of the classification number is derived by date of publication. This date is used with a letter representing the decade and a single digit representing the year (except for A and B which represent 50 year periods). Thus, 1984 is M4, 1994 is N4, 1919 is D9, etc. Periodicals and series are kept together at the end of groups by using a second line that begins with W, X, Y, or Z.

Legal material call numbers begin with L. Materials in the manuscript collections have call numbers beginning with either MS or the surname of the donor, eg. HUBER. Call numbers beginning with TC7 are used for an archival collection of dissertations stored at NRLF (see below for information regarding NRLF).

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Locked Cage
Books published before 1970, archival and manuscript materials, legal materials, and non-print materials are shelved in the Locked Cage area of WRCA. These items are non-circulating and are not eligible for interlibrary loan. They must be used on-site. Photocopies may be made with WRCA staff permission.

NRLF
A growing portion of the WRCA collection is being stored off campus at the Northern Regional Library Facility (NRLF). Several manuscript collections, ceased periodicals, and historical dissertations are located there. For access to these materials you must contact WRCA staff. Most items can be retrieved from NRLF within 24-48 hours.

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