The National Agricultural Library was originally founded as the departmental library for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1862. It eventually became a national library in 1962. Located in Washington D.C. and Beltsville, Maryland, NAL is just one of four national libraries (along with the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, and the National Library of Education).

The library’s mission statement is to “advance access to global information for agriculture.” Nationally, NAL serves as a coordinator for a national network of state land-grant and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) field libraries. Internationally, NAL serves as the United States node in the worldwide agricultural system. The library houses over 3.3 million items and also operates the electronic database, Agricola.