ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess


Abstract Number: 5860
Session = 21.5.5


THE ELECTRONIC BOTANICAL LIBRARY: THE WAY TO PRESERVE OUR HERITAGE OFBOTANICAL RESEARCH?


Malcolm Beasley, Botany Library, The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, England, UK.


Current technological advances and the Internet extend the traditional contact between library and user. Interaction now includes e-mail, personal searching of catalogues, electronic document delivery and viewing of documents. Such developments raise the inseparable issues of access to botanical literature and its preservation and conservation. Custodians of scientific literature that is often hundreds of years old must realise its fragility, relatively temporary nature and importance as a resource for research. Has the time now come to preserve and disseminate botanical information by electronic means? That is perhaps an irreversible step, yet one being driven by scientific expectation, need and development. The implications are discussed in the context of a major international research library.


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