The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries, Inc. Newsletter Number 94 August 2004 Annual Meeting Evaluation Summary Facilities DOUGLAS HOLLAND, CURATOR OF LIBRARY SERVICES & TECHNOLOGY The general meeting facilities were almost unanimously rated MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN “Excellent.” The meals and breaks were evenly split between SAINT LOUIS, MISSOURI “excellent” and “good” with a few comments on the morning continental breakfasts, suggesting both not having them at As those of you who attended the meeting know, we had a all, and having more “healthy” foods. There were several com- slight problem with the mail service and the timely arrival of ments about the banquet. Though folks enjoyed themselves, the evaluation forms. The forms I mailed to Chuck a week many felt that the food and service were not up to the quality before the meeting finally arrived in Pittsburgh, about two of the rest of the meeting. One complaint mentioned several weeks after the meeting! So despite the reprinting and late times was the lack of wine at the banquet. delivery of the forms to the meeting attendees, we had 41 evalu- ations returned. That is 59% of the 70 attendees at the meet- Everyone agreed that the hotel and dorm facilities were either ing. The overwhelming number of comments and general feel- “excellent” or “good.” One omission Yours Truly made on the ing of the results were that this was a really interesting and form was forgetting to separate the questions for dorm and well-run conference. hotel accommodations. Ten people were clever enough to scratch out “hotel” and write in “dorm” to let me know which Business meetings they were rating. The vast majority of respondents felt that the topics of the business meeting and the time allotted for them was just fine. Post Conference Tour There were a couple of comments indicating that the length of Despite a lost bus driver and a light rain shower at Falling the business meetings could and should be made shorter with Water House, 13 out of 14 responses gave the post conference one suggestion of publishing the Committee Reports in the tour their highest rating. One person did feel the bus ride verged newsletter rather than reading them at the meeting. on being a bit too long at almost two hours in each direction. One entire session of this year’s business meeting was de- It was unanimous, the open house reception at Bernadette and voted to presenting the changes in the bylaws. The majority of Joe’s was rated #1 by 10 out of 10. Thanks to them both for those who responded felt the time allotted to this was “about such a hospitable and wonderful occasion. right.” One who felt it was too short commented that it was a bit rushed and there was not time to comment on small things Please visit the CHBL website member-only section to see the or ask questions. complete evaluation results and comments. Thank you all for you input and ideas. Next year’s meeting planners will take Programs all comments into consideration. Strictly by the numbers, the most popular event was the trip to Preservation Technologies. 34 of the 39 who rated this event gave it a number one, with comments such as “So interesting” CBHL Distribution List and “Found this visit very informative, learned a lot and en- joyed seeing the enthusiastic staff.” The popularity of this pro- gram was closely followed by the topical program on “Exhibi- Members are encouraged to use the distribution list to keep tions.” Though the rating numbers were not as high, there in touch and discuss aspects of library service as well as were many positive comments about the talk by Irene Jacob other topics of interest and tour of the Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanic Garden. There to all concerned with were also many encouraging comments about the large num- the literature of botany ber and high quality of presentations by CBHL members. Also and horticulture. To of note was the number of positive comments about the key- subscribe contact note speaker Stephanie Flom on “Persephone’s Gardens,” in- Bernadette Callery in cluding “the perfect after dinner speaker” and “Really Great!” Pittsburgh at: <[email protected]>. From the President This is also the first call for two or three interested members LAURIE HANNAH, CBHL PRESIDENT to sit on the Nominating Committee for 2004-2005. Last SANTA BARBARA BOTANIC GARDEN year’s committee refined the process of choosing candidates SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA for the position of Second Vice-President and set an excellent Warm greetings, example for this year’s committee which will be tasked with at least two positions to fill. If you are interested, please let Summer has arrived me know by October 1. There is currently a vacancy for one and it is again a time person on the Audit Committee, effective immediately. The of transition. For Audit Committee audits CBHL’s financial records each year some, this will be the before the annual meeting, reconciling the beginning and end- start of a new fiscal of-year balances with monthly bank statements and transac- year. Having recently tions of CBHL, as recorded by the Treasurer. If you are inter- returned from an idea- ested in joining this committee, please let me know. packed, event-full an- nual meeting in Pitts- Finally, there are several new committee changes to report. burgh, I have numer- At our annual meeting, a new Archives Committee was cre- ous items to follow up ated through the Steering Committee to oversee and assist in on and new ideas to try the collecting of CBHL documents and memorabilia, kept by in my own library. I CBHL Archivist Susan Fraser. In addition to Susan and sev- always feel so moti- eral board members, David Lane, Steering Committee Chair vated after a CBHL and member-at-large Sheila Connor will join the committee. meeting! On the other Gretchen Wade and Brian Thompson have joined the Annual hand, summer is also a Literature Award Committee for four-year terms. We welcome time to recharge one’s batteries. Many of you will be taking and thank these members for their generous gift of time and well-deserved vacations and slowing down the pace in your hard work in CBHL. lives for a little while. However you do this, either through new discoveries or by rest and relaxation, I hope you will find Opportunities abound! Get involved! yourself energized and renewed, as exciting new possibilities in CBHL await you. IN THIS ISSUE . This year, there will be several extraordinary opportunities to become involved at various levels of governing CBHL. Our Annual Meeting Evaluation Summary, Treasurer, Mary Ellen Armentrout, will be finishing a five- Douglas Holland, 1 year term and will step down in June, 2005. Similarly, Secre- tary Chuck Tancin would be interested to know if other mem- From the President, Laurie Hannah, 2 bers would like to become Secretary of CBHL in 2005 or 2006, as she has been in this position for over five years as well. Calendar of Upcoming Events, Rita Hassert, 3 Both women would be happy to discuss the job requirements with anyone interested. The elected board positions are a great CBHL Board of Directors, 3 way to contribute to CBHL on a larger level but do require a significant yearly commitment to attend the annual meeting Literature Review, Katherine Allen, 4 and midyear board meeting (although CBHL will pay for travel expenses to the fall board meeting, but not hotel or food costs), Members’ News, Shelly Kilroy & Brian Thompson, 4 in addition to ongoing work throughout the year. And if you haven’t heard it enough already, it is a great honor and lots of On the Web, Stanley Johnston, 7 fun to be a board member with such stellar personalities as CBHL members. If you are interested in either of these posi- 36th CBHL Annual Business Meeting Minutes, tions, don’t hesitate to let Judy Warnement, Chair of the Nomi- Charlotte “Chuck,” Tancin, 8 nating Committee, know, as the committee will have its work cut out for them in the next year! Annual Meeting Reports, CBHL Reporters, 16 CBHL Board Reports, Charlotte “Chuck” Tancin, 20 The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries, Inc. Newsletter is an official publication of CBHL, an international organization of botany and horticulture libraries and librarians and others supportive of CBHL’s goals. ISSN 1543-2653 (print version) ; ISSN 1545-5734 (electronic version) The quarterly Newsletter is sent by mail to all current members of CBHL. Submissions to the Newsletter are wel- come. The schedule for 2004 is: February (Copy due 1/15), May (Copy due 4/15), and August (Copy due 7/15) November (10/15). Publications Committee Chair, Susan Eubank <[email protected]> Newsletter Editor, Leora Siegel <[email protected] > 2 Calendar of Upcoming Events RITA HASSERT, TECHNICAL SERVICES LIBRARIAN STERLING MORTON LIBRARY, THE MORTON ARBORETUM LISLE, ILLINOIS July 29–31, 2004. Ithaca, New York. The 2004 National Children and Youth Garden Symposium. “Branching Out: Beyond Formal Garden-Based Education.” Hosted by Cornell Cooperative Extension and the Horticultural Department of Cornell University. http://www.ahs.org/youth_gardening/national_youth_garden_symposium.htm August 2-8, 2004. Boston, Massachusetts. Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting. http://www.archivists.org/conference/boston2004/boston2004.asp August 3–7, 2004. Albuquerque, New Mexico. Visitor Studies Association Annual Conference. http://www.visitorstudies.org/conferen.htm August 27–28, 2004. Charlottesville, Virginia. 2004 Historic Plants Symposium. “Early American Nurseries and Nurserymen.” A Biennial Symposium sponsored by the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants. http://www.monticello.org/chp/plant_symposium.html August 28–September 3, 2004.