5/18-22: Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries, Seattle, WA

The 42nd annual meeting of the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries (CBHL) will be held in Seattle, May 18-22, 2010. The meeting, "Are You Being Served? The Art and Science of Providing Service in a Plant Library,” will be hosted by the Elisabeth C. Miller Library at the University of Washington Botanic Gardens.

A pre-conference workshop focusing on disaster preparedness will launch this annual meeting. During the week, several local Seattle speakers with interesting plant science library connections will share their perspectives. In addition, members’ papers and panels will explore a variety of library topics and projects.

Study tours throughout the meeting will explore the resources of the Seattle area with site visits to the Central Branch of The Seattle Public Library (designed by Rem Koolhaas), University of Washington Libraries, Washington Park Arboretum, Bloedel Reserve, Center for Urban Horticulture and Union Bay Natural Area. The conference will close on a high note with dinner at the top of the Columbia Center; Seattle’s tallest building. Join us at this remarkable meeting! For more information, please visit http://cbhl2010-seattle.wikispaces.com

The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries is the leading professional organization in the field of botanical and horticultural information services. It recognizes the critical importance of collecting, preserving, and making accessible the accumulated knowledge about plants for present and future generations. For more information about CBHL, visit its web site at http://www.cbhl.net.

[Text source: CBHL]

Biodiversity Heritage Library

The Biodiversity Heritage Library is the result of the efforts of these natural history museum and research libraries to digitize over two million volumes of published literature held in their collections:

• American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY)
• Field Museum (Chicago, IL)
• Harvard University Botany Libraries (Cambridge, MA)
• Harvard University, Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology (Cambridge, MA)
• Marine Biological Laboratory / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Woods Hole, MA)
• Missouri Botanical Garden (St. Louis, MO)
• Natural History Museum (London, UK)
• New York Botanical Garden (New York, NY)
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Richmond, UK)
• Smithsonian Institution Libraries (Washington, DC)
• University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana, IL)

As of today 30,808 volumes have been scanned, dating from the year 1480 to 2006. Subjects currently with strong representation in include:

• Agriculture
• Biology
• Botany
• Classification
• Entomology
• Insects
• Natural history
• North America
• Periodicals
• Pictorial works
• Plants
• Scientific expeditions, societies, etc.
• United States
• Zoology

A few books of interest to Wisconsin researchers:

• Bulletin of the Wisconsin Natural History Society (1909-1911)
• Phytoplankton of the inland lakes of Wisconsin (1920)
• Polyporaceae of Wisconsin (1914)
• Provisional list of the parasitic fungi of Wisconsin (1914)
• Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters (1870+)
• Transactions of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society (1852+)
• Transactions of the State Horticultural Society (1871+)

See also, UW Digital Collections.

Top 100 Plant Science Questions

"How can plant scientists change the world?"

Initiated by researchers in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol, "100 Plant Science Questions" invites submissions of pressing plant-related research issues facing the world today. Deadline: March 31st, 2009.

A panel drawn from academia, the public services sector and the corporate world will screen submissions.

From the website:

"Plant science is helping to address many of the big issues facing society today, such as food security, biofuels, and the effects of climate change, but what are the key questions that you think the next generation of plant scientists should be addressing?

Anyone is welcome to contribute their question, including members of the general public; agriculture, horticulture and forestry industries; ecologists; charities; policy makers; food, fibre, fuel and pharmaceutical industries; funding bodies; and researchers."