Paul Seaman Baker Library

The Center for Conservation Biology maintains an extensive library of materials used in daily research. The library has been assembled from several private collections. Early contributions that represent the core of the original library were from Paul Murphy, Paul Baker, and Mitchell Byrd. More recent contributions have come from Don Schwab, Dana Bradshaw, and Bryan Watts. The remainder of the library has been acquired by the Center over a long period of time. Many of the resources housed in the library are rare and not available elsewhere in the region. The subject focus of these materials is avian ecology, distribution, and conservation. However, reference materials on many other topics are also available. Current library resources fall into several categories including books, government documents, scientific journals, reprints of research articles, topographic maps, aerial photographs, and slides.

Books - The library currently contains approximately 3,000 books. Included in the collection are many classic volumes covering specific avian taxa or geographic areas. Other works cover a wide range of avian ecology, taxonomy, and general biology.

Aerial Photographs - Several hundred aerial photographs are currently housed within the library. These photographs provide coverage of areas where the Center has conducted frequent studies of landuse patterns.

Scientific Journals - The library contains approximately 4,500 issues of 30 different periodicals. This collection includes complete sets of several ornithological journals.

Reprints - The library houses more than 15,000 reprints of research articles. Areas of concentration include avian ecology, environmental contaminants, and land management.

Maps - The library contains more than 2,000 topographic maps. This map collection covers most of the mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. Several historic map sets contain archived data from studies spanning 40 years. Many of these data sets do not exist anywhere else.

Government Documents - More than 500 government documents are currently housed within the library. These documents deal with a broad range of topics related to species, habitats, and lands within eastern North America.

Slides - The library houses a collection of more than 10,000 slides. These slides focus on species, habitats, and activities from previous or ongoing research. Other focus areas of the collection include birds of North America and birds of the world.