Botanical Resources from USF

Reading Time: 2 minutes Extreme environmental and climate changes have caught the attention of politics and the news, pushing environmental sciences into the spotlight.  Like the USF Libraries Florida Environment and Natural History collections, the Atlas of Florida Plants from the Institute of Systematic Botany and USF Species Catalog have been documenting environmental studies for decades.  Both resources collect information on plant species and provide a background against which to observe changes in the botanical world.

Celebrating Earth Day with a look at ELAPP

Reading Time: 2 minutes The Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program (ELAPP) was established by Hillsborough County voters in the late 1980s.  Since its establishment, ELAPP has protected over 61,000 acres of rare habitat in Hillsborough County.  Digital Dialogs celebrates Earth Day with a closer look at this program.

Open Source Tools for Exhibit Building

Reading Time: 3 minutes As we all navigate through a world with more online meetings, learning, and events than ever before, finding a way to express our thoughts visually has presented new challenges and opportunities. There are a lot of exciting ways to incorporate exhibits and webpages into your classes or Digital Humanities projects, whether you’re using your own photos, items from Digital Collections, or research collected during your last visit to Special Collections. USF Libraries subscribes to two of the leading platforms for creating exhibit content, Omeka and ArcGIS StoryMaps. Below, we’ll introduce both of those platforms along with other open source and subscription-based platforms available to USF students.

Library Exhibits on Environmental Studies

Reading Time: 3 minutes USF Libraries’ program partners, donors, staff, and faculty have created several exhibits that highlight the Tampa campus library’s digital collections that focus on environmental studies.  These exhibits work to provide additional context and connect digital resources to tell the full story of events that have shaped the Florida environment.

The Roseate Spoonbill: A Fight for Survival

Reading Time: 5 minutes As a result of the “feather craze” that decimated Florida’s bird populations, the Florida Audubon Society found that the roseate spoonbill had been the mostly heavily hit. Plume hunters and poachers sought out the roseate spoonbill for its beautiful, bright pink and orange plumage. The Audubon Society “understood that in order to save endangered birds from extinction, [it] would have to bring more resources to bear than wardens and sanctuaries.” Because the population of spoonbills had been so devastated, their “critical situation called for careful study of the living birds in the wild” and Robert Porter Allen was the perfect person for the job… (Continue Reading)