Libraries

Libraries

Departmental Library

The Department has a small library, primarily housing floras, general botanical reference books and an extensive series of reprints contributed by Harold St. John.

These books do not circulate and must be used in the library.

This library also has a large table and on-line computer for undergraduate Botany majors.

See Dr. Carr for more information and access to the room.

Hamilton Library

The University's graduate library houses over 1.5 million monographs. It ranks about 49th nationally among research libraries (1995 statistics). Botany is one of its specialty areas, so the collection is quite good. If you don't find what you are looking for, you should inquire at the SciTech Desk (3rd floor). The Interlibrary Loan program will likely be expanded as Hamilton Library, like all other research libraries, face the problems of increased costs and severe shortages of space.

OPAC (On-line Public Access Catalog)

The University library sytem is fully indexed so that you can do a computer search for items such as books, journals (and in some cases, the articles within journals -- this is the "uncover" function), videotapes, movies, and recordings. You can use terminals in any of the libraries or from any personal computer connected to the University computer network. (Click here to try using this through TELNET.) This service will not only tell you where to find an item, but also whether it has already been checked out.

CD ROM bibliographic searches

There is a rapid growth in the availability of large bibliographic database being stored as CD ROMS. You use these with a personal computer (currently, you go to the library to do this). Searches provide you with references to journal articles and books. In many cases, you can also get citation abstracts. This information can be downloaded to a floppy disk and manipulated further (or printed) on another personal computer. You might also want to be aware of the OPAC feature known as "uncover." It provides access to journal article citations, too.

SciTech Reference Desk (Hamilton Library, 3rd floor)

The SciTech Librarians are able to provide many useful services. It is good to become acquainted with them. They do on-line searching for bibliographic citations (usually for a modest fee), help you hunt down missing materials (for example, some old journals are kept elsewhere), and a host of other useful things.

Specialty Collections

  • Map Room (Hamilton Library, basement),
  • Government Documents (basement)
  • Hawaiian & Pacific Collections (Hamilton Library, fifth floor) Each of these separate collections that has some relevance to botanical research. Each has a staff trained in the peculiarities of its use. Feel free to discuss your requirements with a staff member. For the closed areas, stack permits are granted by the appropriate Curator. This is a key person who can assist you in maximizing use, not only of published material, but all materials, including manuscripts or research in progress. You should look into these collections when you have time.

    The Government Documents collection is generally indexed separately from the main library (meaning that you generally can't find references in the on-line public access catalog). Instead, go to the collection and use their CD ROM to search for items.

    InterLibrary Loan (Hamilton Library, first floor)

    7:30-4:30 M-F.

    The InterLibrary Loan office is found in Hamilton Library. Faculty and graduate students are welcome and encouraged to use this service. The library will obtain articles, books, microfilm, or photocopies of journal articles that are not available on this campus. Most requests are received within one month. (Airmail takes two weeks and must be paid for by the requester). Loans are for only two weeks and cannot be renewed.

    Cost: Books are generally free of charge and photocopies are generally $5 per article. Please check with the dept. office in the event that the department may cover the cost.

    Sinclair Library

    Sinclair was once the "main" library for the Manoa Campus. More recently, it has been the home to a general undergraduate collection, plus several specialized collections. It has also housed one of the largest collections of computers available for student use.

    The role of this library continues to change as technology develops and space limitations force a reevaluation of how the library system can best serve the campus.

    CLIC (Sinclair Library, first floor)

    A variety of PC and Macintosh computers are located in CLIC. This is the most complete computer lab on campus, although the equipment is not very sophisticated.

    Wong Audiovisual Center (Sinclair Library, third floor)

    You can view video tapes, laser disks and movies from the library's collection or your own materials. Library items are indexed in the on-line catalog. You can also check out audio CDs. The video and audio collections are very large -- and they provide a popular free source of entertainment material in addition to their educational function.

    Bishop Museum Library

    The library at the Bishop Museum has some materials that are not found in Hamilton Library. There is also the Pacific Science Information Center at the Museum, a vast storehouse of miscellaneous information, maps, and photographs relevant to the Pacific.