Strategic Plan Appendix IV.14

CHICAGOBOTANIC GARDEN

LENHARDT LIBRARY OF THE CHICAGOBOTANIC GARDEN

OPERATING PLANS FOR 2010

GoalIV.7: The Lenhardt Library will be a much-used and highly regarded source of knowledge easily accessible to all of the Garden's publics. Enhanced institutional and public awareness of the Archives of the Chicago Horticultural Society will foster new research projects and a better understanding of the role of gardens and gardening in the quality of human lives.

Objective 1: Expansion and enhancement of Lenhardt Library in support of the new science center, new PhD program, and all staff and visitors to the ChicagoBotanic Garden.

  • Enhance access to the archives of the Chicago Horticultural Society for historical research and scholarship. (Cost in staff time)
  • Expand the use of the new science library by offering orientations to library services and tours for CBG staff who work on the south end of CBG.(Cost in staff time)
  • Increase usage of the library’s subscriptions to full-text, electronic databases JSTOR, BioOne, Academic Search Premier, Garden Landscape Horticulture Index & Environment Complete by offering free classes for CBG staff, volunteers and the public. (Cost in staff time)
  • Digitize rare books to share with the public on the web through Digital Past. (Budgeted in the library’s operating budget)
  • Submit a proposal to the NEH for the conservation of rare books acquired from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. (Cost in staff time)

Objective 2: Provide exceptional customer service to Library users

  • Offer outstanding reference and research service to ChicagoBotanic Garden staff, 50,000 members of the Garden, and visitors to the Garden.
  • Undertake in-depth research projects for CBG staff.
  • Provide access to the library’s collections by circulating books, videos, and DVDs to staff and members on-site and to the public off-site through the interlibrary loan system facilitated by the North Suburban Library System.
  • Maintain a professional and courteous circulation desk.
  • Give personalized instruction to all library users including Garden staff & students, to enable them to productively use the online catalog, Garden web site, and related electronic resources.
  • Support educational programs offered by the School of the ChicagoBotanic Garden by placing books on reserve, teaching courses, and allowing students to take exams in the library.
  • Create four rare book exhibitions each year in the Lenhardt Library. 2010 exhibits will be: Children’s Books Around the World, Robert Warner’s Orchids, Japanese Botanicals and Emily Dickinson’s Garden.
  • Give a free gallery talk on each of the four rare book exhibitions.
  • Provide information to the media on the rare book exhibits, the rare book and journal collection, and other library events to reach both Garden members and the general public.
  • Develop features in the Member Magazine on library exhibitions, selected books and journals in the collection, as well as new acquisitions to the Library.
  • Participate in New Member Day and other Garden sponsored events.
  • Partner with the Tribute Gift Program in providing donor opportunities for bookplate dedications by selecting, organizing and describing circulating books, rare books and books in need of conservation work.
  • Promote the Library through Garden events and Public Programs.
  • Provide library tours for Group Tours department.
  • Provide orientation programs for new CBG staff and for CBG groups such as Northwestern students, Science First, College First and Stroger interns.
  • Facilitate appointments for rare books as requested.
  • Host unpaid internships for graduate students studying Library and Information Science.
  • Offer two courses in the School related to library bibliographic resources and the rare book and journal collection.
  • Teach three courses in the library that utilize the rare book and journal collections in collaboration with the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at DominicanUniversity.
  • Appropriately supervise volunteers and interns so that they have a special experience working as unpaid staff at the ChicagoBotanic Garden.

Objective 3:Manage the library’s monograph and serial collections to support the growth of the Gardens collections, science and education initiatives, and staff and member requests.

  • Continue growing and expanding the excellent botanical and horticultural library with books and journals on current research and trends, while also emphasizing the newer focus on plant conservation, soil ecology, and other scholarly scientific collections by purchasing materials in these subject areas.
  • Revise content on the library’s section of the Garden’s web site.
  • Maintain the online library catalog.
  • Add new electronic journal titles to the library collection.
  • Sustain the growth of the library’s monograph collection with new titles.
  • Subscribe to full-text journals along with the print version when the publishers make this option available.
  • Subscribe to bibliographic databases including JSTOR, BioOne, Garden Horticulture and Landscape Index, Academic Search Premier and Environment Complete and facilitate access for all staff and the public.
  • Continue cataloging all library materials in all formats.
  • Continue cataloging the journals purchased from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 2002 and special collections.
  • Maintain partnerships with the North Suburban Library System including interlibrary loan activities.
  • Shelf-read books to ensure books are call number order and can easily be located by library users.
  • Publish six issues of the Internet-only review journal Current Books on Gardening & Botany.
  • Continue processing CBG materials into the archives of the Chicago Horticultural Society.

Objective 4:Conservation and preservation of library materials for current and future use.

  • On a monthly basis using a professional binder, bind monthly issues of journals into hardcover volumes to protect the journals from physical damage and from getting lost.
  • On a quarterly cycle using a professional conservator, repair books and journals from the rare book collection.
  • Repair books in the circulating collections in-house.
  • Create conservation quality clam shell boxes for rare books and rare journals in-house.
  • On a weekly basis, monitor temperature and humidity levels in the rare book reading room and rare book storage room.
  • Edge and straight circulating books to prevent damage.

Objective 5: Utilize sustainable practices to reduce the carbon footprint of the Library and Plant Information Service and to reduce expenses to support CBG’s sustainability vision.

  • In support of the garden-wide sustainability initiative, the Library will provide information on sustainable living, green design, green roofs, organic gardening, usage of native plants in landscapes, reduction of use of invasive species in landscapes, creating wildlife gardens, and other related topics for CBG staff, members and the public.
  • FollowGarden’s guidelines for sustainable actions (recycling, printing, lights, computers, etc.)
  • Accept donations of used books for use in the library’s collection, exchange with other botanic garden libraries, book sale or “freecylcing.”

Objective 6:Upgrade the library's integrated online library system. [To be undertaken either midyear 2010 or early 2011].

  • Upgrade the library’s database to a web-based integrated library system that can seamlessly allow access to the library’s electronic content including the online catalog, electronic journals, and fee-based, full-text databases (JSTOR, BioOne, Academic Search Premier, Garden Landscape Horticulture Index & Environment Complete.) [Will continue to seek outside grant support for the conversion and initial site license; budgeted in the Information Service department if outside grant funds not obtained).

GOAL IV.8Plant Information will enhance its ability to serve as the public’s first choice for timely, authoritative, and effective information about growing plants and diagnosing the disease and pest problems occurring in and on plants.

Objective 1:Enhance programs to better support staff and visitors to the ChicagoBotanic Garden.

  • Revise a selection of Plant Information’s Mini Facts and publish in PDF format and on the CBG website. (Cost in staff time)
  • Enhance the CBG website by updating the Illinois Best Plants database with team from Communications and Horticulture (Budgeted in the Communications department)
  • Provide expert information, resources, solutions, and answers to plant, pest, and disease problems for the gardening public and ChicagoBotanic Garden visitors, in person, through hotline telephone calls, email, and at off-site venues.
  • Staff off-site events such as the 2010 Chicago Flower & Garden Show.
  • Promote Plant Information through Garden events and Public Programs.
  • Support Plant Collections by maintaining the computer on the walk-up counter.
  • Enhance the CBG website by continuing to revise Plant Facts in PDF format.

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