The United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN), created in 1988, provides a forum for issues in agricultural information, provides a leadership role in the formation of national information policy for agriculture, and advises the National Agricultural Library.
The original network was based on a recommendation from the 1982 Interagency Panel of the National Agricultural Library (NAL). It consisted of a network of public and private agricultural libraries and information centers coordinated by the NAL. Originally, the Executive Council was composed of representatives from land grant and other institutions, and the director of NAL, in an ex-officio capacity. By 1995, the Executive Committee moved from an organization-based network to an individual-based organization, transferring the responsibility for the operations to individuals. At the 1995 USAIN Conference held in Lexington, Kentucky, a slate of grassroots-working agricultural information professionals emerged as the new Executive Council.
USAIN holds biennial conferences on current themes in agricultural information. This includes collection management and preservation, data management and scholarly communication, curriculum and instruction, outreach and marketing, and national information policy.
1990 – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Inaugural meeting1991 – University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Electronic Information in the Agricultural Sciences1993 – Auburn University, Auburn Alabama; Rural Information at the Crossroads: Issues and Opportunities1995 – University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky; Cultivating New Ground in Electronic Information: Use of the Information Highway to Support Agriculture.1997 – University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, joint conference with the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists(IAALD); The Information Frontier: Linking People and Resources in a Changing World1999 – Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, From Production to Consumption: Agricultural Information for All2001 – North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina; Extending Our Reach: Redefining and Promoting Agricultural Information Through Partnerships2003 – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois; Agricultural Information for the New Millennium: New Crops, Biotechnology, and Saving the Past2005 – University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, joint conference with the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists(IAALD)World Congress; The Globalization of Information: Agriculture at the Crossroads2006 – Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; Delivering Information for the New Sciences2008 – Ohio State University, Wooster, Ohio; Tradition in Transition: Information Fueling the Future of Agbiosciences2010 – Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana; Agriculture Without Borders: Creating Knowledge and Partnerships Across Disciplines and Across the World2012 – University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Soil, Water, Food and Energy: Agriculture in an Era of Global Climate Change2014 – University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont; Sustainable Agriculture: Stewardship of our Information Ecosystem2016 – University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida; Interdisciplinary Agriculture: Meeting Tomorrow's Global ChallengesUSAIN’s preservation plan for agricultural literature, one of the first discipline-based plans, obtained several rounds of funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and resulted in 29 state projects,
USAIN recently partnered with Agriculture Network Information Center (AgNIC) and the Center for Research Libraries on Project Ceres, which awards funding for “small projects that preserve print materials essential to the study of the history and economics of agriculture and make those materials accessible through digitization.”
1988: Nancy Eaton, 1st President, Iowa State University1989–90: John Beecher, North Dakota State University1990–92: Julia Peterson, Cargill1992–93: Richard Rohrer, University of Minnesota1993–94: Martha Alexander, University of Missouri1994–95: Cynthia Via Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.1995–98: Antoinette Powell, University of Kentucky1998–99: Rita Fisher, Washington State University1999–00: Barbara Hutchinson, University of Arizona2000–01: Diana Farmer, Kansas State University2001–02: Amy Paster, Pennsylvania State University2002–03: Dana W. R. Boden, University of Nebraska-Lincoln2003–04: Jodee Kawasaki, Montana State University2004–05: Pat Wilson, University of Kentucky2005–06: Lutishoor Salisbury, University of Arkansas2006–07: Heather K. Moberly, Oklahoma State University2007–08: Norma Kobzina, University of California, Berkeley2008–09: Kathleen (Katie) Newman, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign2009–10: Sheila Merrigan, University of Arizona2010–11: Allison Level, Colorado State University2011–12: Mary Ochs, Cornell University2012–13: Eileen Herring, University of Hawaii at Manoa2013–14: Connie Britton, Ohio State University2014–15: Valrie I. Minson, University of Florida2015-16: Philip Herold, University of Minnesota2016-17: Sarah C. Williams, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignService to the Profession Award for USAIN members who have demonstrated leadership in advancing agricultural information, and established new directions or visions for the field.Special Achievement Award for members of USAIN who have provided outstanding service or support to USAIN, outside the sphere of the Executive Committee. It is awarded on an irregular basis.Honorary Memberships, given to individuals who are not members of USAIN, but who have been an outstanding individual in the field of agricultural information or have provided outstanding service and support to the Network.Conference Scholarships, are awarded after a nomination/application process, usually to two New Professionals and one Graduate Student, dependent on the submissions received.