Photograph by James Bauml, Ph.D.
About Me
- Arboretum Librarian
- After a childhood in the “west” divided equally between rural and urban environments such as Big Bend National Park, Pasadena, Bellingham, Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve, I graduated with a degree in Art History from Cal State Long Beach and then a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Studies from UC Berkeley. I found my calling after pressing my nose to the door at the Library of Horticulture at Strybing Arboretum. I later settled at Denver Botanic Gardens Library until I couldn’t stand the hills being green the wrong time of year and the mountains on the wrong side. I escaped to my beautiful, brown hills of the southern Sierran foothills to start a nursery. I was then catapulted back into the library world at Grand Canyon National Park. There was only one aisle of plant books in that library so even though the landscape was stunning, I had to work my way back to a botanic garden to be surrounded by my loves: books, plants and people. Only the L A County Arboretum & Botanic Garden would do. Yes, I pride myself as being the only librarian on the surface of the planet to have worked and given my love to 3 botanic garden libraries.