The OTS Library’s mission is the development of a bibliographic collection comprised of research that was supported or promoted by OTS. It includes a 4 library system located in its headquarters and each of its 3 biological stations. These libraries contain over 10,000 titles and include theses, bibliographical references published by researchers working in OTS research stations, research coursebooks from work completed by students in OTS courses, and online catalogs.

One of the most important parts of the OTS library is a set of online catalogs including BINABITROP (National Bibliography on Tropical Biology). This catalog gathers scientific publications related to Costa Rican Biology, and makes their bibliographic information available for the public in a database. BINABITROP holds over 38,500 records of references for graduate theses, monographs, journals, and other publications.

Donations of Journals and Books

OTS is grateful to donors who wish to make a contribution of books and journals to our library in Costa Rica. However, due to space constraints, we have established the following policy for accepting donations of book and journals.

Prior to making a donation of books or journals to one of OTS' libraries, please send a list of items and the library for which they are intended (Walter Hodges Library at the Simons Center, La Selva Biological Station Library, Palo Verde Biological Station Library, Las Cruces Biological Station Library) to our librarian, Susana Aguilar in Costa Rica at susana.aguilar @ ots.ac.cr. Susana will review your list for approval of suitability for OTS' collection and respond to you as soon as possible. Due to space constraints, OTS may not be able to accept all donations. Please do not ship any journals or books to Costa Rica without prior approval from Susana.

Once your list is approved, please arrange for shipping directly to Costa Rica. OTS is not able to reimburse any donor for fees associated with the shipping of journal donations to Costa Rica. OTS can no longer accept donations of journals to our North American Office.

United States Tax Considerations for In-Kind Donations

Donors will receive an acknowledgment and gift receipt of their donation from the OTS Development Office at our North American Office. If the value of the gift is over $5,000 and tax credit is desired, it is the responsibility of the donor to obtain an external professional appraisal, which an OTS development officer co-signs (form 8803). In other instances it is the donor's responsibility to determine fair market value. Appraisal of the monetary value of the gift for tax purposes is the responsibility of the donor. To receive a receipt for tax-purposes, please coordinate your donation with Jonathan Giles at jgiles @ duke.edu.

Here you can find magazines, newsletters, reports, and documents concerning ongoing projects and activities at OTS.

OTS routinely utilizes Information Technologies to collect, store, and manage all of the diverse data generated as a result of its operations. A number of information databases have been developed. They include a structured collection of records and/or data related to meteorological data, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), large scale inventory of arthropods and vascular plant diversity at La Selva, and taxonomic information.