Plant Sciences Collections

Transfer of Plant Sciences collections to Radcliffe Science Library

In the course of summer 2010, the majority of the Plant Sciences Library collections were transferred to the Radcliffe Science Library and integrated with the collections there. This included all undergraduate Biology materials, general botany and plant sciences, and forestry materials including grey literature, which will continue to be available on open access. Periodicals which are available electronically have been transferred to offsite storage, but titles which are available only in print will be retained on open access where space permits. Offsite materials can be ordered as required via SOLO.

The Zoology Library collections have also be transferred, thus bringing the majority of Oxfords's biological materials together in one place for the first time.

Taxonomic collections, including rare books, will remain in the Department of Plant Sciences to permit their use alongside specimens in the University Herbaria also located there. These collections will form the new Sherardian Library of Plant Taxonomy from 1 October 2010.

From January 4th 2011, the Sherardian Library of Plant Taxonomy will be open by appointment only with the Sherardian Librarian on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 9am and 5pm. To make an appointment, please email anne.catterall@bodleian.ox.ac.uk or phone +44 1865 275025.

Holdings

  • Plant biology in general, including reference and lending copies of undergraduate material required for the Biology degree course.
  • Plant taxonomy in association with the two departmental Herbaria in the Plant Sciences Department, including many early taxonomic works, some grouped in the 'Sherard Collection';
  • Forestry: world coverage, especially of tropical forestry, in all languages, fully abstracted and indexed in association with CAB International.

Catalogues

Some, but not all, Plant Sciences holdings are included in the Oxford University on-line catalogue, SOLO:

  • All open-shelf books, books in the Fielding-Druce Herbarium, and current serials are on SOLO.
  • Older bulletins, reprints, translations and maps, and closed-access books are mostly not at present on SOLO.
  • Orders are shown on SOLO.
  • All serial parts received from 1 January 1999 are on SOLO.

All forestry holdings from 1939 are indexed and abstracted in Forest Science Database (CAB International); material prior to 1939 indexed in microfilm catalogues.

For further information please contact Judith Pinfold (Bodleian Libraries Subject Specialist, Biology).