The Collections Lens series highlights collection managers from around the world across botanical libraries and herbaria as collections move into the future in an effort to drawn attention to the value of botanical collections and facilitate better understanding and appreciation of their importance and crucial role in preserving and promoting biodiversity data and the vast history of botany.
Imagine a herbarium of just under 400,000 plant specimens in cabinets with a corresponding botany library of 40,000 books lining the periphery, along the walls of the herbarium collection accessible to researchers working in the collection. This was the design of the SMU Herbarium and Library housed on the SMU campus before moving to BRIT in 1991. A design that in many ways is ideal for research, while at the same time reflecting the distinct relationship between herbaria and botanical libraries: two parallel collections preserving the value of plant research praxis.
For more about the SMU Herbarium and Library: A Library Encircling A Herbarium
As part of the Library’s Collection Lens series, BRIT Librarian, Brandy Watts, interviews Sean Lahmeyer of the Huntington Herbarium who discusses the history of the collection and its growth through the years.
BRIT Librarian, Brandy Watts, interviews Barbara Thiers, Director of the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium at the New York Botanical Garden, who she discusses funding natural history collections and the Extended Specimen Network.
BRIT Librarian, Brandy Watts, interviews John Atwood, Research Specialist at the Missouri Botanical Garden, who discusses the Herbarium’s Bryophyte Collection and the Peter H. Raven Bryology Library.
Former Vice President and Director of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library at the New York Botanical Garden reflects on her tenure with the Library.
Gina Douglas, Honorary Archivist of the Linnean Society of London, discusses her many fruitful and enriching years with the Linnean Society and the wonderful collections that she has worked with during her tenure.
Tiana F. Rehman, BRIT’s Herbarium Collections Manager, tells us about the many collections that compose the Herbarium. This is the first interview of the Library’s new Collection Lens series, which highlights collection managers from around the world across botanical libraries and herbaria as collections move into the future.
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