Library

Staff

Barney L. Lipscomb

Director of BRIT Press and Library, Leonhardt Chair of Texas Botany

817-332-7432
|
barney@brit.org

Brandy Watts

BRIT Librarian

817.463.4102
|
bwatts@brit.org

The BRIT Library supports botanical research and education in Texas and around the world. Our collection has been carefully curated and is a valuable research tool for those studying systematic botany, horticulture, natural history and ethnobotany. The BRIT Library houses one of the largest and finest collections of botanical works in the southwestern United States. 

Our collection is non-circulating, but we are open to the public for use as a reference library Monday - Friday, 10am to 4pm. To ensure that someone is available to assist you with a specific request, please make an appointment before stopping by, though walk-ins are also welcome!

Learning & Discovery Resources for All Ages!

Online Resources for Everyone.

The Arader Natural History Collection of Art

Online gallery of The Arader Natural History Collection of Art

The Stansbery Collection for Botanical Art

A lovely new addition to the Library's collection

About the Library

Taxonomic journals, rare books, historical archives, and much much more. Search the Library's catalog.

History of the Library

The establishment of a significant botanical library collection.

Library Inventory

The BRIT library contains approximately 100,000 volumes of scientific publications from more than 90 countries.

The Burk Children's Library

The Oliver G. Burk Children's collection is a treasure of both rare and new books on botany and natural history. Due to the nature of the collection, the books are not available for loan but can be enjoyed through scheduled programs and by appointmen...

Participate

Help the BRIT library - support the acquisition of new material or give the gift of your time.
Research Projects

Library Exhibitions

BRIT Library has ongoing exhibitions on view in the Upper Atrium Collections Gallery and the Library, which highlight the Library's Arader Natural History Collection of Art and rare materials from the Library's Special Collections and Rare Book Room. The Library also oversees installations on current BRIT Research Programs in the Upper Atrium Research Gallery.

Library exhibitions are overseen by BRIT Librarian, Brandy Watts.
Recent Articles

John Atwood: The Bryophytes of the Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium & Library

by Brandy Watts
BRIT Librarian, Brandy Watts, interviews John Atwood, Research Specialist at the Missouri Botanical Garden, who discusses the Herbarium's Bryophyte Collection and the Peter H. Raven Bryology Library.
Read More >

Susan Fraser of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library

by Brandy Watts
Former Vice President and Director of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library at the New York Botanical Garden reflects on her tenure with the Library.
Read More >

Gina Douglas of The Linnean Society of London

by Brandy Watts
Gina Douglas, Honorary Archivist of the Linnean Society of London, discusses her many fruitful and enriching years with the Linnean Society and the wonderful collections that she has worked with during her tenure.
Read More >

Searching for Mertensia through the Mountains of China

by Brandy Watts
From the mountains of China, comes a botany story in search of Mertensia (Bluebells), of the Boraginaceae family. Through the summer of 2010, botanist Mare Nazaire Ph.D. of California Botanic Garden (RSA) conducted numerous field collecting trips throughout the alpine regions of China.
Read More >

Grace Lloyd Bascopé: Flora of Belize & Maya Research Project

by Grace Bascope
Resident Research Associate, Grace Lloyd Bascopé, talks about her summers in Blue Creek, Belize working on Flora of Belize & Maya Research Project.
Read More >

Collecting Collections; Tiana F. Rehman, BRIT Herbarium

by Brandy Watts
Tiana F. Rehman, BRIT's Herbarium Collections Manager, tells us about the many collections that compose the Herbarium. This is the first interview of the Library's new Collection Lens series, which highlights collection managers from around the world across botanical libraries and herbaria as collections move into the future.
Read More >

A Library Encircling A Herbarium

by Brandy Watts
Imagine a herbarium of just under 400,000 plant specimens in cabinets with a corresponding botany library of 40,000 books lining the periphery, along the walls of the herbarium collection accessible to researchers working in the collection. This was the design of the SMU Herbarium and Library housed on the SMU campus before moving to BRIT in 1991.
Read More >

Librarian Lens: Plant Discovery In the Southern Philippines Expedition Two

by Brandy Watts
In December of 2019, BRIT Librarian participated in expedition two of the Plant Discovery In the Southern Philippines project.
Read More >