PUBLIC SERVICES
Educational Outreach
Collections
Lake Michigan Biological Station
SoilWatch Outreach
EcoWatch Outreach
INHS Library
The education outreach efforts at the Survey continue to
serve an ever-expanding audience with new and innovative programs. For the
first time, the Survey has also established programs to serve inner-city and
suburban Chicago youth. Many different components go into the making of the
Survey's 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 200 presentations on topics
ranging from annelids to zooplankton were presented this fiscal year to
audiences ranging from kindergartners to senior citizens.
Our newest
program involved Survey staff with inner-city Chicago youth. The programs,
Science Linkages in the Community (SLIC) and Community Youth Creative Learning
Experience (CYCLE), have been interacting with Survey staff in several ways.
The Natural Resources Showcase brought 300 youth to the Survey for a day-long
visit of labs and programs to give the kids a chance to see science in
action.
CYCLE kids are developing their own version of Insect Theatre (a
song and dance production that teaches audiences about the world of insects)
with the help of Survey outreach personnel. In addition, CYCLE is being
assisted in the construction of a small prairie on the grounds of a YMCA near
the Cabrini Green subdivision in north Chicago. The Survey provided seeds and
supplies for the children to start the prairie plants in our greenhouses, and
then helped them plant the prairie in early summer.
The purple loosestrife
biological control program developed its own outreach effort with a grant from
Chicago Wilderness. A set of curricular materials was developed on
biodiversity, wetlands, and biological control and presented to 25 high school
teachers during a January workshop. Also, the teachers were trained in the
rearing of loosestrife beetles and each school was supplied a starter colony of
beetles. Teachers reared the beetles at their schools and released them into
locally infested wetlands during May.
Insect Expo (an annual entomology
showcase sponsored by various University of Illinois departments and INHS) was
a great success with nearly 6,000 children and their parents attending the
two-day event held at the UI Stock Pavilion. Nearly 30 exhibits on insects and
entomology both entertained and educated the audiences.
The College of
Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences annual open house drew nearly
12,000 people. The Survey featured a virtual reality tunnel showcasing some of
the natural habitats and biological diversity present in Illinois. In a similar
vein, the Survey designed and constructed the Illinois Department of Natural
Resources' (IDNR's) exhibit for the Chicago Sportsmen's Show at McCormick
Place, Chicago. The exhibit was a 30-foot tunnel that gave visitors a virtual
environmental tour through Illinois, from south to north.
The Survey
participated in the annual Clean Water Celebration in Peoria by providing
speakers for sessions and by setting up and staffing the Biodiversity in
Illinois traveling exhibit. This celebration is conducted by a consortium of
state and local agencies, such as the IDNR and the Environmental Protection
Agency, working to improve the environmental quality of the Illinois River
watershed. Nearly 4,000 high school students attended the two-day event.
Women scientists from the Illinois Natural History Survey participated in
Expanding Your Horizons in Science and Mathematics, a conference for 6th, 7th,
and 8th grade girls held on the University of Illinois Springfield campus. The
purpose of the conference was to let girls interact with women in science and
math careers and to encourage them to continue to study math and science
throughout high school. In a related program, girls from Champaign and Urbana
visited the Illinois Natural History Survey as part of the Girls in Math,
Engineering and Science (GEMS) program. The girls were a select group that had
shown good aptitude in the areas of science and mathematics, and the program
attempts to encourage them to continue to take math and science courses once
they reach high school.
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 re-created and displayed in
several locations in Illinois.
The Survey is leading the Illinois EcoWatch
program, which trains citizen-scientists to collect scientifically valid data
from rivers, forest, prairies, wetlands, and agricultural soils. These data are
then analyzed and will be used in the future to determine trends in the status
of these important habitats. A corollary program to EcoWatch is Pairing
Learners and Nature with Innovative Technology (PLAN-IT). When high school
teachers are trained as citizen-scientists (to in turn train their students),
they are provided a set of curricular materials about the particular ecosystem
they are studying. This allows students to develop a knowledge of and rapport
with the particular ecosystem they will be monitoring under
EcoWatch.
While
all these educational efforts may seem to be heading in different directions,
they all share the common goal of teaching the next generation about Illinois,
its biological resources, and issues it will face in coming years. In short,
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.
The Illinois Natural History Survey is an outgrowth of a
society formed in 1858 with the intention of, among other things, developing
collections of Illinois organisms. In the ensuing 140 years, the collections
have grown to become some of the largest and most important in North America.
The Insect Collection contains over 6 million specimens and is the eighth
largest collection of insects in North America. The Fish Collection, with
761,000 specimens, is the 15th largest in North America. Other important
collections include those of plants, fungi, mollusks, crustaceans, mammals,
annelid worms, amphibians, and reptiles. The collections consist of specimens
collected from throughout the world but with a strong emphasis on Illinois and
constitute a huge repository of biological information. Data recorded with
each specimen include the locality where collected, date, and names of
collectors. Additional information can be extracted from specimens as needed.
Examples of data often extracted from animal specimens include size, age and
sex of the specimen, reproductive condition, and what it had been feeding on.
Analyses can be run to determine levels of chemicals in the tissue, and DNA can
be analyzed to determine relationships.
Much of the Survey's scientific,
outreach, and educational activities involve its collections and, increasingly,
the databases developed from collection-
building
activities. Several scientific disciplines rely on collections of biological
organisms. Systematics, the study of the diversity of life--in particular, the
study of evolutionary relationships and determination of appropriate names to
be applied to populations--traditionally has been the primary interest of
scientists working with collections. At the Survey, data extracted from
collections, especially data on spatial variation in populations, have been
used by systematists to determine which species are found in Illinois. This
information can be used directly or indirectly by any resident of Illinois,
with an interest, for example, in controlling pests or in protecting rare
species, or in using wildlife for recreational purposes, such as nature
photography, hunting, and fishing.
Scientists other than systematists,
particularly ecologists and conservation biologists, increasingly are turning
to collections to understand the temporal changes taking place in the state's
biological communities. Changes in species distribution and abundance,
including the loss of native species and invasions of exotic species, are of
general concern to most people and often are best documented and most easily
explained by databases built from collection-
oriented
research. Data associated with the biological collections of the Illinois
Natural History Survey provide some of the most effective means for providing
the public with information about changes that are taking place in the Illinois
environment.
With continued modification of natural habitats, the value of
collections to society will increase. For many areas, the only records of a
species' presence will be the specimens in institutional collections.
Fortunately, the Survey has collections that are among the largest and most
valuable of any state-
supported
institution. These collections provide valuable information to decision makers
and other citizens of Illinois concerned with protecting the environment. Much
of the information used by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to
recognize endangered and threatened species, to identify outstanding natural
areas, and to develop management programs come from data associated with the
Survey's collections. The Survey's collections are heavily
used by Survey
scientists, scientists at other institutions, educators, and members of the
general public (see table below). They are used in studies leading to reports
on the Illinois environment, in scientific publications, and in exhibits.
Visitors to the collections in the past year included students from several
elementary schools, including those participating in the Natural Resources
Showcase for inner-
city
Chicago youth (CYCLE), students and faculty from 10 colleges and universities,
scientists from museums, and staff of environmental organizations, governmental
agencies, and a public utility. Loans of specimens and collection-
associated
data went to about 50 colleges, universities, and museums, to several other
public and private institutions in Illinois, and to scientists in 10
countries.
Station focus on exotic species in Illinois waters, especially Lake Michigan.
This year, the focus has been on preventing the spread of exotics.
Five
thousand brochures describing how boaters can prevent the spread of exotics,
such as the zebra mussel and round goby, were distributed through
IDNR-sponsored safe boating classes. The same message was repeated on
boat-landing signs, which were installed statewide, including around Lake
Michigan and within state park facilities.
We also made a special
display
for bait shops in the Lake Michigan area that assists anglers in the proper
identification of an exotic fish, the round goby. Proper identifiction of this
species enables anglers to take steps against accidentally spreading it to
other waters.
Staff made several presentations this year to local clubs,
teachers groups, and inland lake associations. The topic of these
presentations was exotics: how we got them, how to stop them, how to protect
against them, how to teach about them.
Our "Exotic Species" display and
"Mussel Mania" traveling trunk saw significant use. The display is used at
large public functions, such as the Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental
Sciences' open house at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, and the
traveling trunk is used by youth educators. Both tools were used to teach
about the issues surrounding exotic species.
INHS staff began working on SoilWatch in August 1997. A
number of drafts of soil monitoring procedures have been developed and we are
ready for field testing. Although our long-term objective is to have procedures
for monitoring soils in a variety of natural and managed habitats, we initiated
our efforts with agricultural soils. We've had three outreach activities thus
far. In December a brief presentation was given at a Farm Bureau briefing
(hosted by IDNR Office of Scientific Research and Analysis) outlining the
biological basis for soil functioning and describing what we hoped to
accomplish with SoilWatch. In March we highlighted SoilWatch in a poster
presentation at the Illinois Natural Renewable Resources Conference in
Springfield. The poster introduced the biological nature of soil functioning
and placed SoilWatch in the context of soil management and conservation.
Finally, in June an all-day pre-pilot training session in SoilWatch procedures
was conducted at Northern Illinois University's Lorado Taft campus for 25
science teachers and EcoWatch facilitators. The feedback from this event was
enthusiastic and positive.
The Illinois EcoWatch Network, a statewide volunteer
monitoring program, is part of the Critical Trends Assessment Project
coordinated by the IDNR. This program trains volunteers from the public in
scientific collection and monitoring techniques to assist scientists in
gathering data over time throughout the state. The primary responsibilities of
EcoWatch personnel include the development and implementation of quality
assurance programs for the RiverWatch and ForestWatch components. Quality
assurance looks at the effectiveness of our training, monitoring procedures,
accuracy of data collected and species identified by volunteers, and accuracy
of equipment used. In 1997, RiverWatch volunteers monitored different taxa of
macroinvertebrates at approximately 300 stream sites and identified them at 80%
accuracy. ForestWatch will become fully active in fall 1998. Activities of
EcoWatch staff include database development and management, data collection
procedure development, quality assurance implementation, development of
training materials, and assisting IDNR in the development of other statewide
volunteer monitoring programs such as PrairieWatch and WetlandWatch.
The Natural History Survey Library serves a wide range of
library users. As a state agency library it strives to meet the diverse
research needs of the Survey scientists and staff members. However, the INHS
library is also a departmental library at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, so students, faculty, and staff of the university are
frequent users of the library. The general public is also welcome to visit the
library.
The library was in a state of transition during FY98. In April
1998, Head Librarian Erin Knight left the Survey. In Erin's five years of
service she initiated many changes within the library and kept it in step with
the latest developments in library science. Under her leadership the library
greatly expanded its electronic resources. Erin purchased Wildlife Worldwide,
Fisheries Worldwide, Zoological Record, and many other CD-ROM products. She
also offered personalized Current Contents searches to the INHS staff. To meet
the unique needs of the Natural History Survey staff she created a number of
library databases. To aide in archiving and quickly locating the Survey's
publications, databases for the Survey's Center reports and journal reprints
were established. A database of journal holdings was begun and all of the
journal titles in the library were entered. Other library databases that were
created include the exchange program database and a database that contains
pertinent natural history Web sites.
In addition to increasing the
library's electronic capabilities and resources, Erin was very active in
collection maintenance. She rearranged the collection and separated the books
from the journals. This made locating a particular source more convenient and
resulted in greater bibliographic control. In preparation for a new library
on-line catalog, all of the books at the UIUC Library had to be barcoded; this
included the difficult task of barcoding the entire INHS Library collection.
Erin had inherited a large amount of books and journals that had never been
properly cataloged and entered into the on-line catalog. She and her staff
were able to get half of these retrospective materials weeded, cataloged, and
put onto the shelves.
Other accomplishments during Erin's tenure as
librarian included the acquisition of two additional rooms for the library, the
extension of library hours during the UI semesters, the acquisition of a $6,000
biodiversity grant, and the compilation (with the help of the INHS Library
Committee) of a list of the library's core journals.
The library had been
preparing for the new UIUC on-line catalog since 1995, and it finally become a
reality in August 1998. After the entire INHS Library collection was barcoded,
there were many items that were missed and numerous errors in the on-line
catalog were discovered. Barcode clean-up was an especially tedious task and
was finally completed this year by the diligent efforts of Erin Knight and
Jessica Beverly. Teaching the library patrons how to use the new DRA (Data
Research Associates) on-line catalog will be a major challenge for the library
staff in the next fiscal year.
It had been 44 years since the library
received any additional space, and with the acquisition of two adjacent rooms
the library has been in the process of reorganizing the collections and the
work areas to better serve the library users. The library staff now has an
office, which will also house the majority of our archival materials for
safekeeping. The circulating books have been moved into a new room adjacent to
the office. Adequate shelving was acquired and the books were in place before
the 1998 fall semester. This additional room will also house our remaining
retrospective materials. These uncataloged books and journals will be unboxed
and placed on shelves. Library users will have access to these titles and it
will be more convenient for the library staff to organize and process these
materials. The journals will remain in the original library room and are being
spaced properly to accommodate future growth.
The library's materials
budget, which is supplied by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
increased slightly this year to $54,060. We were very fortunate this year and
did not have to cut any journals.
The library added over 1,187 books and
journals to its collection this fiscal year. It acquired 90 titles from the
university's approval plan, and the library purchased 106 new titles. An
additional 359 monographs were received through the exchange program or as
gifts. Also, many of these new additions came from the library's retrospective
books and journals. Some 171 monographs and 19 serial titles were cataloged and
added to the collection. The library acquired 15 new serial titles which were
obtained through the exchange program and as gifts from other organizations or
generous staff members. The library has 1,763 unique journal titles.
Filling article requests is a very important service that the library offers
the INHS staff. Up until this year it has been a free service but due to
rising material costs the library began charging for photocopies and began
monitoring photocopying use within the library.
The library continues to
support its exchange program and now has 413 active partners; 212 are in the
U.S. and 201 are from countries throughout the world. The exchange program is
an excellent tool for disseminating the Survey's publications. In return the
library receives hundreds of journals and books to enrich its collection.
Extended hours were offered again this year. Last year the library stayed open
until 7:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays; this year hours were 8:00 a.m.-6:00
p.m. Monday-Friday. This approach proved to be very successful.