Library brings Herbarium to life

trevor.kenney — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:40:58 +0000

For more than 30 years, botanists and botany students have been visiting the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge to study a unique collection of more than 20,000 preserved plant specimens from Waterton Lakes National Park and environs. Now, thanks to a partnership between Herbarium collection curator Dr. John Bain in the Department of Biological Sciences and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library, these invaluable specimens have been digitized and will soon be widely available via the Internet.

The majority of the Herbarium's specimens date from the 1970s and 1980s.

"In 1982, former ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge professor Job Kuijt's A Flora of Waterton Lakes National Park was published – after which he deposited in the Herbarium all plant specimens he collected and pressed during his documentation of the flora," says Bain. "It was this abundant and diverse flora found in Waterton Lakes National Park that was, in part, the reason for the park's designation as a World Biosphere Reserve in 1979 and a World Heritage Site in 1995."

Unlike other materials the library has previously digitized, pressed plants pose a slightly different challenge due to their relative fragility and the fact that the specimens must remain on-site in the Herbarium. To facilitate the digitization process, specialized equipment was purchased and located in the Herbarium. Quinn Daviduck, a summer research assistant, was hired to create high-resolution digital images for each and every plant specimen in the collection.

The next step in the process is to catalogue and describe each specimen using appropriate metadata (e.g., locational data, flowering times, ecological and distribution data) in order for the content to be more effectively searched or browsed online.

"In undertaking this project," says Bain, "the library is ensuring that an important natural history collection housed at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge will join similar collections around the world in being widely accessible."

An official launch of the Herbarium Digital Collection was held on Monday, Dec. 19 at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Library.

For more information, contact Associate ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian, Information Systems & Technical Services, Wendy Merkley at wendy.merkley@uleth.ca.

This story first appeared in the December 2011 issue of the Legend. If you'd like to see the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

New faces in ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library are all about service

trevor.kenney — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:02:52 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Library continues to be an innovative campus leader, and it's reflected in the new personalities they bring into the fold.

A year ago, new ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian Alison Nussbaumer was introduced, bringing a fresh approach to the highest post in the library's administration. This fall, two more new faces have been added to the mix in associate university librarians Brenda Mathenia and Wendy Merkley. And while their responsibilities may be unique to their positions, their philosophies are remarkably similar.

"One of my goals is to make sure our public service is at the top, that we're putting our users first," Mathenia says.

As the Associate ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian for Client Services and Facilities, Mathenia's group is often the first contact for people using the library. As such, customer service is at the forefront of her efforts.

A Michigan native, Mathenia has a wide and varied background, having worked in primarily academic settings throughout her career. A cartography and geography undergrad, she earned her first master's degree in urban geography.

After working in that field however, she soon found that the information aspects of her job, finding information, helping others find it and use it appropriately, led her back to library school.

"I've always been very inquisitive and liked to know a lot about a lot of things," Mathenia says, calling herself a jack-of-all-trades.

"Librarianship is the perfect discipline to go into because you can dabble in all manner of subject areas."

She was given that latitude in her last job, at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Nevada-Reno. For four years she worked primarily in the sciences but also managed a branch library and dabbled in major collection development.

"I've had my fingers in a lot of different things in the library and it's served me really well and been very good experience," she says.

"I like to help people navigate the world of information. It's always been easy for me, so I like to share those skills and make it easier for other people."

Merkley, a Manitoba native who worked previously in the Lethbridge public system, is all about simplifying the search for information. The difference is that her work is done behind the scenes as the Associate ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian for Information Systems and Technical Services.

"There have been major changes in how technology is being used in the library world, and this is a really good time with two new AULs and a relatively new ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Librarian, we're looking at how do we integrate some of these new things into what we're doing," Merkley says.

Her journey to librarianship was also non-direct. An English undergrad at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Manitoba, she worked in the faculty library while completing her degree.

"I would love to say it was a great passion and I always knew what I wanted to do, but it really came from that experience," Merkley says. "I really enjoyed the atmosphere of a library and the people I worked with and it just seemed like a logical thing to do."

From there she moved to Alberta and completed her master's degree at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta before coming to Lethbridge and entering the public library system. Positions in Lethbridge and then later in Calgary set up a three-year stint in the United Arab Emirates (2005-2008).

"I call it my running away period," she laughs, noting that the pull of her daughter, a third-year kinesiology-psychology double major at the U of L, was a major influence in her return.

"It was tremendous. You learn an awful lot about yourself when you go in and have to adjust to being a stranger in a strange land."

Her route to the U of L was delayed by a one-year stint implementing video conferencing services for rural Alberta libraries but saw this role as too good to pass up.

"In the end, it's about facilitating that process of helping people find information," she says. "We strive to find a happy medium between simplicity and still allowing people to do the kinds of research they need to do that sometimes requires a more elaborate search strategy."

She's enthused about the new technology being implemented and how it can reshape the way the library helps its clients.

"It's really exciting and I'm really looking forward to it. That's one of the reasons I've stayed in library so long, because it's such a changing environment."

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Library brings Herbarium to life

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New faces in ��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ Library are all about service

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New faces in ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library are all about service