Summary

Botanical libraries and Botanical gardens complement each other,In some of the botanical gardens looked at the Library and Herbarium were started with the donation of personal botanical items notable examples are, Ferdinand Von Mueller at the Melbourne Botanical Gardens,Henry Shaw at Missouri Gardens, and the  Loy McCandless-Marks  donations at the Hawaii tropical botanical gardens,


The Role of Botanical Libraries 


As the world becomes increasingly aware of the necessity of saving,storing and naming of plants ,and to protect diversity of species,also the properties of medicinal plants,the information and research emanating from Libraries and Herbariums are becoming more important,the role of Botanical libraries is to make available as much information about plant species as possible,to include and educate the general public in the work they do and to promote the libraries as a place where information can be easily obtained

Plant Diversity

So much information about plant species was recorded in the years 1500-1900 as Botanists travelled with the early explorers on their voyages recording and collecting plant species and while drawings of botanical items were done by hand it was and still is to an extent felt that the human eye could capture a more realistic depiction of plants than photography ever could.

Hand drawn plant

 Most of the botanical libraries around the world depend heavily on these old books and great care must be taken in their preservation such as this link which outlines restoration work done at The National Herbarium Netherlands, Leiden University,


The Linnaeus classification
Was published in 1735 by the famous Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in his book Systema Naturae in which he classified all organisms by species,genus,family class, order and kingdom

These groupings are still used today and is the cornerstone for all  botanical research centres with only minor alterations from the original text.

 Carl Linnaeus(1707-1778) 

Other Notable Botanical Libraries.

Harvard University Herbaria
Is the world's largest library and herbarium that is owned by a university,with over 5 million specimens,with 5 Botanical libraries being, The Arnold Arboretum
The collection at the Arnold Arboretum was begun with a donation of over 6000 volumes in 1893 by Charles Sprauge Sargent,it has now grown to over 100,000 items,i have included this quote from him.

''The Arnold Arboretum is not a School of Forestry or of Landscape Gardening...[I]t has been managed not merely as a New England museum but as a national and international institution working to increase knowledge of trees in all parts of the world and anxious to help a student in Tasmania or New Caledonia as in Massachusetts. An institution with such ambitions must be equipped to answer any question about any tree growing in any part of the world which may be addressed to it.''

Charles Sprague Sargent, 1922

The Farlow reference library of Cryptogamic Botany

.''..the study of plants, as such, holds for large numbers of wanderers on this by no means unexceptional planet unnumbered joys and compensations of which the uninitiate have little or no conception. The fact alone that very many humans have found, do find, and will continue thus to find interest and consolation and wholesome activities for the eyes and mind, within doors and without, is in itself a sufficient raison d'etre for "The Farlow Library and Herbarium"

Roland Thaxter, 1882.

Library of the Gray Herbarium.

''When the history of the progress of botany during the nineteenth century shall be written two names will hold high positions; those of Professor Augustin Pyrame DeCandolle (Geneva) and Professor Asa Gray. One sank to his rest in the Old World as the other rose to eminence in the New. Both were great teachers, prolific writers, and authors of the best elementary works of botany in their day''.

Sir Joseph Hooker, 1888.

The Economic Botany Library of Oakes Ames 

''A rainy day may always be spent profitably among good books. Even though we do not read them, but just turn the pages to catch a line here and there, we often glean in the course of twelve hours a rich mental harvest from the books of a well selected collection.... An essay on botany or a ramble through an old herbal afford as much pleasure as I need for daily comfort.''

Oakes Ames
Jottings of a Harvard Botanist, 1874-1950,


The Orchid Library Of Oakes Ames

''The Orchidaceae, one of the largest and most complex of plant families, was but poorly understood when Oakes Ames as a young man began his systematic studies. Today, and in no small measure because of his work and that of his associates, the species of Orchidaceae have probably been more thoroughly studied and more completely classified than those of any of the larger plant families.''

Harvard dinner for Oakes Ames, 1948.

The Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC has a growing Botanic Library which was established in the mid 1960s,with a donation of early 19th and 20thCentury landscape books,and prints a botanic review called Plant Press which deals with insights into the world of Botany.

Conclusions

FUTURE OF BOTANICAL LIBRARIES

There are many Botanical libraries around the world now,and they are all sharing information and research,by making their archives more easily accessible,with many undergoing huge digital transformation of their items,while in Europe there are a collection of Botanical libraries,who regularly liaise and hold conferences with each other in matters of Botany.The work going on in the herbariums and research centres such as the Millennium seed bank , is becoming more vital as the earth faces huge challenges with deforestation,desertification,global warming or climate change.as much information has been lost as to the use of many species and the part they played in the earth's hierarchy.Botanical libraries are therefore at the helm of providing invaluable resources to help alleviate these growing concerns.

Ferdinand Von Mueller

Morris,D 1974,Mueller,Sir Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich Von,(1825-1896),Australian Dictionary of Biography,vol.5,Australian National University, Canberra.
Viewed 24th May 2012,<http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mueller-sir ferdinand-jakob-heinrich-von-4266.




Henry Shaw (Botanist)2012,Wikipedia,viewed 24th May 2012,<http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wikiHenry_Shaw_(botanist)>.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Shaw_(botanist.)




National Tropical botanical garden 2011,Botanical research centre,National tropical botanical garden,viewed 24th May2012,

<http://ntbg.org/about/history.php>.


The Guardian 2009,"Escape Pods:The Millennium Seed Bank''The Guardian,7th April 2009, viewed 24th May 2012,<http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/gallery/2009/apr/06/kew/millennium-seed-bank-pollen>.


Kew views 2011,Why does plant diversity matter?,20th May 2011,viewed 24th May 2012,<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLC1kapyBjl>.


Book restoration project 2011,Nationaal Herbarium Nederland,viewed 24th May 2012,<http://www.nhn.test.gorlaeus.net/index.php/library/library_news>.


Linnaeus 2007,''Father of systematic biology" Linnaeus's blog, 9th Jan 2007,viewed 24th May 2012,<http://www.blogster.com./linnaeus/systematic biology>.


Duke,G 2010,"Book of the week- Botanical Illustrations'',G Duke's blog,19th January 2010,viewed 25th May 2010,<http://www.blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2010/01/book of the week-botanical-illustrations html>.


Maurice Flower 2007,''Carl Von Linne-or Carolus Linnaeus'',[image]in Maurice Flower's photostream Flickr,viewed 25th May 2012,<http://www.flickr.com/photos/maurice_flower/510317091/.


Botany & Horticultural Library 2012,Smithsonian National  Museum of Natural History,viewed 25th May 2012,<http://www.sil.si.edu/libraries/bothort/index.cfm#top>.


Botany Libraries 2011,Harvard University Herbaria,viewed 25th May,2012,<http://www.huh.harvard.edu./libraries/home_page.htm>.

Directory 2008, EBHL,viewed 25th May 2012,<http://www.kew.org/ebhl/direcomb.htm>.

 Homepage 2004, CBHL,viewed 25th May 2012,<http://www.cbhl.net/about/about.htm>.

  

Blog 6

Singapore Botanical Gardens Botanical Library.
After much searching,trying to find a different region of the world with a significant botanical library,I located one at Singapore,and have decided to add some information about the history of the gardens,which i feel is relevant to the establishment of the library and herbarium.

In 1822 Sir Stamford Raffles established the first version of the Botanical gardens,as a kind of experimental area to see what kind of useful crops could be grown,but unfortunately the gardens closed after just 7 years due to lack of finances,and the untimely early death of Raffles.

The gardens lay dormant then for about 30 years,where they reopened as a leisure garden and an ornamental park,around this time,and hosted flower shows,

In 1874,the gardens management was handed over to the government,who brought in Botanists and Horticulturists from Kew Gardens in London to upgrade and facilitate new plantings and designs,also about this time the Library and Herbarium were established,initially with books owned by Raffles,who had been a keen botanist.

The first garden director was Henry Ridley,who foresaw the potential of rubber trees and had 22 planted as an experiment,by 1917 the gardens had produced approx 7 million seeds he also discovered ways to tap the trees without damaging them which opened up possibilities for the growth of rubber tree plantations in Malaya (Malaysia) as early as 1910 rubber was then produced commercially, this generated much wealth which Ridley then used to extend and improve the garden and it's facilities.
In 1988 Dr Tan Wee Kiat,the gardens director, began a program to upgrade the botanical and horticultural research facilities,and to modernise the library adding over a period of time a leisure reading room,with botanical magazines available to peruse I have included an article by Dr Tan Wee Kiat outlining some of the future plans for the libary and gardens

Display within Library

Singapore  Botanical Library

The Story of Rubber,Singapore:Ridley's Rubber Farm 2000,Polymer Science Learning Centre & The Chemical Heritage Foundation,viewed 17th May2012,<http://www.psic.ws/macrog/exp/rubber/bepisode/malay.htm.>.


Samson So 生態協會 Eco Institute 2007,Botany Library inside Singapore Botanical Library[image]in Samson So's photostream,Flickr viewed 17th May2012,<http://www.flickr.com/photos/samsonos_photography/1434378330/>.


Singapore Botanical Gardens 2007,Library of Botany&Horticulture,viewed 18th May2012,<http://www.sbg.org/research/herbariumlibrary1.asp>.


Kiat,Tan Wee 1999,Keeping Botanical Gardens relevant:The Singapore Botanical gardens experience viewed 18th May2012,<http://www.bgci.org/worldwide/article/121>.

Blog 5

Hawaii National Tropical Botanical Library

 After a lot of searching through items I was looking to get away from European type botanical garden libraries and found a link via Wikipedia to the botanical library in Hawaii which seems a nice counterpoint to the other libraries.
The gardens were established in 1972, because the selected location was ideal for tropical plants due to the humidity and the rich soil.
Over a period of time the library and herbarium were added with the help of grants ,government assistance and bequests making the research centre much younger than the European and American libraries already looked at, Unfortunately the buildings and large swathes of the gardens were damaged firstly by Hurricane Andrew,then a few weeks later Hurricane Iniki in 1992, causing the library and herbarium to be fortified to withstand future hurricanes.

Then in 1997 the estate of Loy McCandless Marks donated her extensive botanical collection of items to the library and in a show of respect the library was named after her,she had collected over 5000 books on botany with the emphasis on tropical and sub tropical plants.

The LoyMcCandless Marks Library

Rare Book Room

There are currently four sections as part of the overall gardens,The McBryde, Allerton, Limahuli,and Kahanu gardens.

LIMAHULI GARDENS  

 The library now houses over 44,000 books ,prints and images,with the oldest item going back to the 1500s.
In 2005 the library began digitalizing all their material making it accessible to researchers and students around the world,
The library acquisition policy is weighted heavily towards items about plants from Hawaii and the Pacific region,
Allertonia is a periodical that presents research results from NTBG scientists.and is distributed to other botanical libraries around the globe.






National Tropical botanical garden 2011,Botanical research centre,National tropical botanical garden,viewed 11th May2012,<http://ntbg.org/programs/research-brc.php>.

National Tropical botanical garden 2011,Botanical research centre,National tropical botanical garden,viewed 11th May2012,
<http://ntbg.org/about/history.php>.

 Tiny Froglet 2011,"Garden Bench'',[Image] in Tiny Froglet's photostream Flickr,viewed 12th May2012,<http://www.flickr.com/photos/tinyfroglet/5584367068/

Mariko Reed Photos, Home Projects:Juliet Rice Wichman Botanical Research Centre 2011[image] in Mariko Reed photos,viewed 12th May 2012,http://www.dsarch.net/projects/botanical_research center.html#

Blog 4 Missouri Botanical Garden

Botanical Garden Missouri Library.

I have decided to include the Missouri Botanical Garden Library in my research as I have had many references to the work that goes on at their library from the other botanical libraries that i have looked at. I began my research with a quick look at the NLA, as i was hoping for a lead,no luck, Tried Swinburne Library site,and accessed EBSCO host, a few minor references but nothing to hang your hat on. I went online to the Missouri Garden website and found that very useful.
I am including this reference to the MBG library,just to give an idea of the material available to research.


Brief History of the Missouri Botanical Garden Library.  

The Missouri Botanical garden is the oldest continuously running garden in the USA, founded by Henry Shaw an Englishman a newly arrived settler to St Louis, Missouri,who had developed a very successful hardware business,He retired at 39 and spent the rest of his life  developing the Botanical garden which later in life had bestowed as a philanthropic gift to the people of St Louis,he opened the gardens in 1859,and was persuaded by Thomas Englemann a German botanist to add a herbarium, and library to the garden, A unique aspect of the Missouri garden is it's close collaboration with other botanical gardens,When Henry Shaw began to design his garden,he had sought guidance and assistance from William Hooker the director of Kew Botanical gardens in the (UK) ,plus he received help and ongoing advice from Harvard university.

Statue of Henry Shaw in his favourite room

The library started with a collection of Shaw's own botanical books,and has now grown to over 200.000 items.in many languages and currently is one of the largest repositories of specialized Botanical items in the world. I also found the bio-diversity heritage catalogue interesting to browse



The library is divided into two sections, the general collection and the special collection which houses the rare books and Henry Shaw's personal papers and photographs.




As Douglas Holland curator of library services said "unlike some fields of science,botany depends heavily upon publications of the 18th &19th Centuries to maintain a stable system of names for plants"  

The Biodiversity Heritage Library,is a group of Botanical libraries,natural history, and research institutions banded together to aid research into plant forms, plant identification.and classification,with the aim of identifying world wide plant species.

Botanical illustration  

The library today is named after Peter H. Raven the director of the Missouri Gardens since 1971.In my opinion I feel the library complements perfectly,the Botanical Garden Mission statement in part which says "To discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment, in order to preserve and enrich life." This video explains a lot about the work done at Missouri library.


Am enclosing a piece about the affection shown about the Library.

Video depicting Missouri Botanical garden and library

Missouri Botanical Garden 2002,Shaw,Henry photographic reproduction of painting of Henry Shaw 1835[image] in Botanical Gardens Photostream,Flickr,Viewed 6th May 2012,<http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbgarchives/184215993/>

Biodiversity Heritage Library Catalogue,viewed May18th 2012,http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org>.

Henry Shaw (Botanist)2012,Wikipedia,viewed 7th May 2012,<http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wikiHenry_Shaw_(botanist)>.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Shaw_(botanist)


Status-us-org 2010,Missouri Botanical Garden Library and research centre[image] in Status-us-org's photostream,Flickr,viewed 7th May 2012,<http://www.flickr.com/photos/stat-us/4983878462/in/photostream>.



Welcome to the Peter H.Raven Library 2012,Missouri Botanical garden,viewed 5 May 2012,<http://www.mobot.org/mobot/molib/>

Seiter,J 2009,What's so special about the Missouri Botanical Library,I Love libraries.org,viewed 18thMay 2012<www.ilovelibraries.org/articles/libraryshowcase/missouribotanicalgarden>.

Amalia Sabiescu episode 102,Missouri Botanical Garden Library,viewed 9th May 2012,  <http://vimeo.com/10631583>

Blog 3 Royal Botanical Library- Kew Gardens UK

I could not find a video of the library as such but thought this was interesting.


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.

NEW RENOVATED HERBARIUM AND LIBRARY

Library circa 1908