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Each year the education outreach effort at the Survey serves an ever-expanding audience with new and innovative programs. Many components go into the making of a successful education outreach effort, including presentations by staff as members of the Survey speakers bureau, development of new educational materials for middle and high school teachers and students, and teacher training in the use of those materials. Over 150 presentations on topics ranging from bats to biological control were presented this fiscal year to audiences ranging from kindergartners to master gardeners. The educational liaison at the Survey was involved in nearly 70 presentations of this type.

New educational materials focused on high school students and were developed in conjunction with the CTAP (Critical Trends Assessment Project) Phase II, PLAN-IT (Pairing Learners and Nature with Innovative Technology) Project. The goal of PLAN-IT is to create sets of scientific protocols that focus on forests, streams, wetlands, prairies/grasslands, riparian zones, and agro-ecosystems that will enable high school students (and other volunteers) to collect valid scientific data. These data can then be analyzed by Survey scientists and incorporated into the biennial critical trends reports on the state of the Illinois environment. To accomplish this task, new curricular materials must be developed to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills to implement these protocols. Thus, two new sets of curricular materials on forests and flowing waters were produced. A curricular writing team, with a Survey scientist as advisor, developed the curricular materials, while a team of Survey scientists produced the scientific protocols for forests and flowing waters and continues to work on protocols for the various landscape types. This is a unique program and is under close scrutiny by other states that hope to implement similar programs if Illinois succeeds in its endeavor.

As in years past, a major focus of education outreach is teacher training. This becomes particularly critical with regard to PLAN-IT. Teachers must be trained both in how to provide students with necessary skills and in how to conduct the scientific protocols so the data their students collect is a valid product. Five workshops across the state were conducted this past summer with this in mind. Survey scientists were involved in at least two of these workshops and will be integral to the overall success of this program.

While high school teachers took center stage this year, middle school teachers also had an opportunity to receive training through a program managed by the Illinois State Museum. "An Interdisciplinary Study of Wetlands" allowed groups of up to 20 teachers to spend two full days studying the various aspects associated with Illinois' diverse wetland communities. Two sets of workshops were held on consecutive days in four sites across Illinois: the Cache River basin, the Green River Conservation Area, the Vermilion River, and the American Bottoms. Survey scientists were major contributors and gave presentations on wetland ecology, wetland plants, entomology, and population dynamics.

Other outreach efforts at the Survey include a weekly radio broadcast on WILL public radio called "Illinois Naturalist," and significant contributions to The Illinois Steward magazine. In addition, the traveling exhibit "Biodiversity in Illinois" was recreated and displayed at several locations in Illinois, including a short stint in Chicago at the James R. Thompson Building and a premier showing at the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences annual open house at the University of Illinois.

The Survey places special emphasis on its diverse education outreach efforts and will continue to do so as the audience continues to broaden and the need for effective natural resources materials suitable for many audiences continues to grow.

"Oh wow, cool!" says an eight-year-old from the Urbana Park District summer camp program. "Look at that butterfly!" Responses like this-though perhaps in different words-are typical of first-time visitors to the Illinois Natural History Survey scientific collections. Few realize the diversity of organisms inhabiting our state and the world that are represented in the Survey's holdings.

The collections at INHS, established in 1858, are among the oldest in North America. They contain over 7,300,000 individual items and continue to grow, with over 550,000 specimens added this year. All major groups of organisms are represented. Our particular strengths are in insects, fishes, mollusks, crustaceans, amphibians and reptiles, vascular plants, and fungi. Though most of the specimens are from Illinois, organisms do not respect political boundaries, and the INHS collections contain plants and animals from throughout North America and from other parts of the world.

Scientific collections are fundamental to the Survey's programs. The specimens and their associated locality and habitat data serve as a historical record of our natural heritage. Studies on the distribution, ecology, and conservation of our living natural resources depend on this record. The specimens also prove indispensable for identifying organisms for other governmental agencies and for the public. Many species look very similar, so distinguishing a beneficial insect from a pest, or an endangered plant from a common weed, can be difficult without comparative material. Finally, the collections form the basis for our research programs in systematics.

The collections are actively used by our staff and by visitors. Despite building renovations that made many of the collections inaccessible to visitors, over 200 people visited the collections this year. These included scientists, students, representatives of other governmental agencies and private companies, and the public. Though most were from Illinois, visitors came from as far away as Brazil and France. Like books in a library, specimens are also loaned to qualified researchers. This year specimens were sent to about 150 scientists throughout the United States and in eight other countries. In addition, we responded to almost 100 requests for specimen data.

Making collection data more available to scientists and the general public is a high priority at the Survey. To this end, we are computerizing the specimen data and making it available on the Internet. The entire crustacean, fish, herpetological, mammal, and mollusk collections have been computerized, and almost 90% of the plant collection is complete. Data entry for the annelid and insect collections has been initiated. Work to make the computerized data available on-line progressed throughout the year.

As we move toward the next century, collections documenting the diversity of life are growing ever more important. The Illinois Natural History Survey is dedicated to documenting that diversity with collections, making the collections and associated data widely available, and using the collections in research and public service.

The Illinois Natural History Survey Library serves as both the Survey's library and a departmental library within the University of Illinois Library system. The UI will begin using a new on-line catalog system by Data Research Associates (DRA) in the spring of 1997. Much of the year's activities in the Survey library were spent in preparation for the switch to the new and improved integrated library system.

The DRA system requires that materials be barcoded. Library staff concentrated on getting the collection in good order for the barcoding process. The entire INHS Library was barcoded in July 1996 by a team supplied by the UI Library.

The collection was completely reorganized in August. Books and journals, formerly all filed together, were separated. This made materials, especially loose journal issues, easier to find. It also makes the collection easier to browse. Currently, books take up one quarter of the collection space, journals the remaining amount.

Staff areas in the library were evaluated and reorganized. Shelving and files cabinets were moved to create private work areas for the librarian and assistant librarian. A main reference/information/circulation desk was placed near the entrance to the library. Each day the librarians split their time between the reference desk and their work area. The new arrangement resulted in the loss of only 24 shelves and has greatly enhanced productivity and patron service.

A few thousand books in the collection were interfiled in the collection but not cataloged on the on-line computer system. These pieces were pulled and several hundred were added to the system. Approximately 50 newsletters that were kept but not cataloged were added to the system. Library staff continue to review and add the remaining uncataloged pieces. This retrospective conversion process greatly enhances the accessibility and organization of the collection.

The library's materials budget, supplied by the UI Library, increased slightly. The budget of $50,632 allowed us to purchase a few new journal subscriptions and several books. The library also received a few generous contributions through the UI Library Friends.

The Survey library expanded its extensive exchange program with the addition of several new exchanges. Currently the INHS Library receives over 365 publications on exchange. In return, the library sends Survey publications to over 545 institutions worldwide.

The UI Library Life Sciences Division, which includes the INHS Library, was charged to define the core collection for each individual library. This was mandated by University Librarian Robert Wedgeworth in order to help us deal with rising serial costs. Librarian Erin Knight worked with Survey researchers and other regular library patrons to compile the core list. The result is a list of 205 journal titles totaling $49,652. Several of the journals defined as core for the INHS Library are received on exchange.

A journal use study was begun in May 1995 and will continue indefinitely. Data were gathered on how often journals were used, and, based on subscription price, how much each use cost the library. This information has been quite valuable and makes the choices for cancellation easier.

Librarian Erin Knight, working with the UI Library Life Sciences Division, was able to secure a statewide collection development grant of $4,000 for biodiversity materials. This grant is earmarked for materials not already on campus that will circulate throughout the state. Thus far, over 90 books have been ordered with these funds.

A total of 1,361 books and bound journals was added to the collection. To make room for new materials, 450 pieces were transferred to the main stacks. Space constraints continue to be a concern for the INHS Library.

The library continued to contribute to the INHS World Wide Web (Web) home page. A library fact sheet and the most recent new acquisitions lists were added to the library portion of the home page. A database of related Web sites that are of interest to our researchers is maintained by the library. This database is used to link our home page to these other sites. Currently, there are over 90 sites in the database with many more to be added.

The part-time staff continued to contribute a great deal. Library aide Elizabeth Day continued to clean and vacuum the collection, process photocopy requests, and maintain our extensive reprints files. Work-study student Wayne Tomei retrieved articles for researchers from other UI libraries and also helped to process several hundred interlibrary loan requests. Work-study student Robyn Mallon was responsible for the binding of loose journal issues, resulting in 799 bound journals being added to the collection. Robyn was also responsible for gathering books in need of conservation. Several boxes of books were shipped to the UI Conservation Department for repair.

Assistant Librarian Monica Lusk left the Survey in May to pursue other opportunities in Seattle. The Survey is indebted to Monica for her 18 years of service.

Librarian Erin Knight served as chair of the UI Library Colloquium Committee and as a member of the DRA Technical Transition Team. The latter is one of many teams set up by the UI Library to ensure a smooth transition to the new on-line catalog system.

Erin also remained active in the Special Libraries Association, especially the Environment and Resource Management Division and the Natural History Caucus. She attended the association's annual conference this year.

During FY96, INHS continued developing its electronic information infrastructure to meet its goal of providing scientific and administrative staff and the public with up-to-date navigation tools for locating and using INHS data and for connecting to computer resources outside INHS. The INHS Network Support Group has connected and now supports approximately 340 computing devices that are hardwired to the Internet via the UIUC campus network. Almost all INHS staff now have e-mail accounts or can receive e-mail through an e-mail-to-fax gateway. Also, six of eight INHS field stations have at least minimal dialup access to the Internet.

The INHS electronic information infrastructure was given a major boost by grants from the National Biological Service (NBS) and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The NBS grant funded an Internet-accessible host (also on the INHS World Wide Web server) to house INHS electronic publications and collections databases. This host now contains a complete specimen-based list of the plants and animals of Illinois, a directory of Illinois systematists and ecologists, databases of world-renowned INHS collections, and a growing number of INHS publications in electronic form, including the Annual Report, the Survey's Publications Catalog, our bimonthly newsletter INHS Reports, and the Field Guide to Freshwater Mussels of the Midwest.

With the DNR grant, INHS and the DNR Division of Energy and Environmental Assessment will work together to provide electronic databases related to biological, ecological, socio-economic, demographic, and educational information to DNR.

All electronic publications required by the DNR grant have been entered into the Survey's database engine and are accessible. INHS has also developed electronic publications in cooperative ventures with other agencies, such as the National Institute for the Environment, the North American Benthological Society, the Illinois Waste Management and Research Center, and the Illinois State Geological Survey. We also helped develop two GIS CD-ROMs, one containing data and the other 1,000 maps of Illinois landcover.

We are currently developing a comprehensive list of INHS database fields and functions which will be made available to Survey staff and appropriate individuals and institutions outside INHS who are interested in accessing dynamic data at INHS.

Finally, we have incorporated advanced features into our Web system, such as forms, tables, java, and live HTML, making our system one of the most advanced sites on the Internet.