Brief History.
I began my research with the local library,finding plenty of information about Kew gardens,in UK,but on the library there nothing,I then browsed Trove hoping to find something, a similar story,I looked at Swinburne's library data base, settling on Academic Search Complete and Gale but not much information either
At the Kew Gardens website you need to email ahead what you want to look at before you are given permission to physically view the library,and online there are copyright issues,
However at NLA i found a link to the Kew gardens art libraries journal,and an interesting project in conjunction with Flickr where people are asked to submit their own photos for inclusion of a digital archive.
The Botanical library is situated in the Kew gardens at Richmond in SW London (UK),Now over 160 years old,it began life as a bequest of about 600 volumes from the personal library of Rev William Bromfield in 1852,today it has grown to house over 1/2 million items,including books,illustrations,photographs,periodicals,and maps,material is now available in over 90 languages,
The library catalogue is accessible world wide,for the study of plant sciences research,and botanical conservation.
I have added this link to give an idea of the Botanical illustrations housed in the library
In 2009,the library was upgraded and expanded,with the economic botany library,and the Mycology libraries merging,also a reading room was added in May 2010 with 30 tables making it one of the largest botanical libraries in the world.
The Library has published research guides,designed to aid and simplify botanical scholars research,they provide a detailed list of sources available in the archives,and deal with popular topics such as medicinal plants,and imformation from all plant regions of the world,
A link here shows us some of the inner workings and a guided tour via blog through the herbarium
I discovered the online library catalogue does not contain records for older archived materials,and that is still labelled in handwritten cards and indexes.
I have included a link which depicts the interior of the library with its expanded facilities
The Libraries mission statement is aligned with the Kew Gardens,and it reads
To inspire and deliver science based plant conservation world wide enhancing the quality of life
Curtis's Botanical magazine which started in 1787 and still is produced to this day from Kew,is the world's longest running magazine periodical.
I decided for this part of the research,to focus on the part the library plays in the Royal botanic gardens,as opposed to the library its self
I have found it hard to stay on track when researching the library,as there were so many distractions,the history,the vast size of the gardens the incredible amount of biodiversity within and there is the Millennium seed bank project.
CITATIONS
Kewgardens 2010,Introducing the plantlist 2010,22nd December,viewed 20th April 2012,<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BzcFUt_4_Q.>
McRobb,A 2010 The new reading room,[images]Kew Gardens Library,Art & Archive,viewed 20th April 2012,<http://www.kew.org/library/>
Ward,M,Flanagan,J 2003 "Portraying plants:illustrations collections at the Royal Botanical Gardens Kew",Art Libraries Journal, 28th February 2003.pp.22-28,viewed 20th April 2012,<http://www.kew.org/library/ARLIS.pdf.
Robinson,L 2009,"Kew Gardens-Herbarium,Library Art & Archive",The lynxiblog,13th August,viewed 20th April 2012,<http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3805472318769214098#editor/target=post;post ID=6503962302348316589.>
Alperovich,A,L 2011,London's Kew Gardens Herbarium uses hot air to protect it's contents[image]in Ana Alperovich's slideshow Inhabitat photo gallery,viewed 18th May 2012,<http://inhabitat.com/londons-kew-gardens-herbarium-uses-underground-cooling-and-hot-air-to-protect-its-contents/>.
Wallis.E.J,1908"The Herbarium and the library,1908"[image]from The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew,By W.J.Bean, 1908, p. 112 viewed 20th April 2012
http://www.Lloydlibrary.org/cgifloragraeca.html.
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