By Sharon Hoffhines

Volunteer Librarian Helen K. Fowler prepared the ground in 1947 for the founding of a library for the Colorado Forestry and Horticulture Association (CFHA). Not only did she do volunteer duty, but she donated the core of her own large botanical and horticultural collection. The association's board recognized her generosity by naming the library in her honor and designating her honorary librarian.

Today the Helen K. Fowler Library has blossomed into a 25,000-volume collection -- all in open stacks -- at the Denver Botanic Gardens, which later merged with CFHA. In addition, the library subscribes to about 500 journals, has a rare book room (temperature controlled) of approximately 1,000 volumes, a children's section highly popular with area teachers, reference works housed separately, a fully cataloged file of 5,000 pamphlets and more than 800 current seed catalogs from retail and wholesale nurseries. Its 500-video collection is the most popular of the library's holdings.

The Helen K. Fowler Library currently has a paid staff of three: Senior Librarian Susan C. Eubank, Associate Librarian Gayle E. Bradbeer (both full-time staff) and Gene Stortz, with whom the library contracts on a part-time basis to do specific projects when needed. The Fowler Library also depends on 53 volunteers -- 28 help out in the library itself, while the remaining 25 take on the responsibility for the Botanic Gardens annual May used book sale.

"Our primary interests are botany and horticulture," explained Eubank, who has been at the Fowler Library a little more than three years. The library, which focuses on the Rocky Mountain region, has compiled a comprehensive collection about this region's plant life, as well as materials about geographic areas with a similar climate, including Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. "We probably have the widest ranging botany collection in the Rocky Mountain area."

Because its primary users are Denver Botanic Gardens' members, the only ones allowed to check out materials, the library's primary focus in horticulture is hobby gardening, as opposed to agriculture or scholarly research. Still, the Helen K. Fowler Library has a number of artists, landscape architects, nursery workers and scholars who use its materials in-house.

The library also is a popular interlibrary loan lender. "We lend far more than we borrow since we have such a unique collection," said Eubank. Among its most popular ILL holdings are Growing Great Garlic and the proceedings of certain wildlife conferences. The library's holdings are listed on WorldCat, OCLC's Online Union Catalog, specifically for ILL use, a service it obtains through BCR. The staff catalogs an average of 500 new titles annually, according to Rosario Garza, manager of BCR's Bibliographic Systems & Services.

"We are a unique resource in this area, and we are here to be used," Eubank emphasized. "If you find any entries you want on FirstSearch, give us a call, and we'll get it out to you through interlibrary loan." The National Parks Service, Bureau of Land Management and a number of public libraries are frequent borrowers of the Fowler Library holdings, an easy method of obtaining the materials since interlibrary loan is the only way the general public can obtain Fowler Library materials for home use.

The Denver Botanic Gardens' 115-member staff are the largest borrowers. Staff from the Research and Horticulture departments are the most frequent users of the library's own in-house materials because of the collection's botanic/horticulture focus. Eubank and her staff, however, are working to set up a more comprehensive corporate collection.

The Fowler Library is open seven days a week (except major holidays) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to be used by any member of the public. Patrons, however, must pay the regular Botanic Gardens' entrance fee. March through May is the library's busiest time, when people begin planning what they want to do in their own gardens for the new growing season. "It's chaos that time of year," said Eubank. "We hear the same questions over and over. But it's a blast; we have a great time helping people find out about plants." Use during the summer slacks off and is slowest during November and December.

Currently, patrons find what they need at the Fowler Library the old-fashioned way -- by perusing its traditional oak card catalog file. However, the staff has begun an online catalog, which now contains about a third of the library's collection. Eubank's goal is to have the entire collection cataloged online in three years.

The Botanic Gardens also is planning to expand the library's physical facility to the basement, now used primarily for storage and organizing the used books donated for its annual sale. The library has no difficulty expanding its collection. "We have a pretty healthy book budget," Eubank said. Although the Denver Botanic Gardens budget does not include a line item for books, all the proceeds from the Annual Plant and Used Book Sale go directly to the library's book budget. Last year that amounted to about $23,000.

Approximately half the library's operating budget comes from the metro area's Scientific and Cultural Facilities Tax, with the remainder from the Garden's membership fund, the gift shop, fund raising and the City and County of Denver.