Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens 

Jennifer and John 

Learning Resources Team 

January 2015

1 

Welcome ................................................................................................................................................. 2 

Finding books .......................................................................................................................................... 3 

Main Dewey numbers relevant to the Botanical Gardens ..................................................................... 4 

Recommended reading ........................................................................................................................... 5 

Finding information from electronic resources .................................................................................... 12 

Finding information on the internet ..................................................................................................... 13 

Finding printed journals ........................................................................................................................ 14 

DVDs/CDs/Moodle videos..................................................................................................................... 14 

E-books .................................................................................................................................................. 17 

Information from other libraries........................................................................................................... 17 

Finding more help ................................................................................................................................. 18 

Botanical Gardens – Horticulture and Conservation 

Learning Resources Team

2 

Welcome 

Welcome to Birmingham Metropolitan College and to the Learning Resource 

Centres (LRCs). 

We are your subject liaison team. We will support you in finding resources and 

information. If you need any help, please feel free to contact us. 

Jennifer Manders 

Sutton Coldfield Campus 

Ext. 5376 

Jennifer.Manders@bmetc.ac.uk 

John McBrien 

Sutton Coldfield Campus 

Ext. 5376 

John.Mcbrien@bmetc.ac.uk 



3 

Finding books 

To find out what each LRC has in stock you need to look at the library 

catalogue which is called the OPAC. 

You can look at the OPAC on the Learning Resources page on MyMet. 

The books are arranged by 

subject and each subject has a 

number which is written on the 

spine of the book. This number 

is called the Dewey number. 

To find out more about 

searching the library catalogue, 

please speak to a member of 

staff. 



4 

Main Dewey numbers relevant to the Botanical 

Gardens 

Ecology 577 

Microorganisms and Fungi 579 

Plants (Botany) 580 

Trees 582.16 

Animals 590 - 599 

Horticulture /Garden Crops 635 

Flowers and Ornamental Plants 635.9 

Landscape Design 712 



5 

Recommended reading 

Lawrence Bee and Richard Lewington, A Guide to House 

and Garden Spiders, (Field Studies Council, 2002) 595.4 

Nicholas Arnold and Denys Ovenden, A Field Guide to the 

Reptiles and Amphibians of Britain and Europe (Collins, 

2002) 597.9 

David More, Collins Tree Guide (Collins, 2004) 582.16 

Stefan Buczacki, Chris Shield, Collins Fungi Guide (Collins, 

2013) 579.6094 



6 

The Institute of Environmental Assessment, Guidelines for 

Basic Ecological Assessment (Taylor & Francis, 1995) 577 

Francis Rose, Colour Identification Guide to the Grasses, 

Sedges, Rushes and Ferns of the British Isles and Western 

Europe (Penguin, 1999) 584.9 

Malcolm Greenhalgh, Pocket Guide to Freshwater Fish of 

Britain and Europe (Bounty Books, 2011) 

Nigel Holmes, The New Rivers and Wildlife Handbook 

(RSPB, 2001) 



7 

Elizabeth Agate, Alan Brooks, Hedging: A Practical Guide 

(British Trust For Conservation Volunteers, 1998) 582.16 

Elizabeth Agate, Fencing: A Practical Guide (British Trust 

For Conservation Volunteers, 2001) 631 

Paul Waring, Martin Townsend and Richard Lewington, A 

Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland 

(British Wildlife Publishing Ltd, 2009) 595.78 

Penny Jane Williams, J. Biggs, M.Whitfield, A.Thorne, 

S.Bryant, G.Fox, P.Nicolet, P.Williams and A.M.Julian, The 

Pond Book (Ponds Conservation Trust, 2010) 635 



8 

Lynette Merrick, Guide to Common Butterflies 

(Gatekeeper Educational Ltd, 2003) 595.78 

Steve Brooks, Steve Cham and Richard Lewington, Field 

Guide to the Dragonflies and Damsonflies of Great Britain 

and Ireland (British Wildlife Publications, 2014) 595.7 

Butterflies and Moths (RSPB Pocket Nature) 

(Dorling Kindersley, 2010) 595.78 

Fungi (RSPB Pocket Nature) 

(Dorling Kindersley, 2010) 579.6094 



9 

Paul Sterry, Butterflies and Moths: A Portrait of the Animal 

World (New Line Books, 2013) 579.78 

Anne Bebbington and Carol Roberts, Guide to Grassland 

Plants (Field Studies Council, 2005) 581 

Jonathan Oldham and Carol Roberts, Tree Name Trail: A 

Common Guide to Trees (Field Studies Council, 1999) 

582.16 

Peter Roberts and Denys Ovenden, Guide to the Reptiles 

and Amphibians of Great Britain and Ireland (Field Studies 

Council, 1999) 597.9 



10 

Richard Orton, Anne Bebbington and John Bebbington, 

Guide to Common Water Plants (Field Studies Council, 

2000) 581 

Kate Jones and John Russ, A Guide to British Bats (Field 

Studies Council, 2001) 599 

Liz Holden and Keith Hamper, The Fungi Name Trail: A Key 

to the Commoner Fungi (Field Studies Council, 2003) 

579.6094 

Colin Twist and Dan Powell, A Guide to the Dragonflies of 

Great Britain (Arlequin Publishers, 1999) 595.7 



11 

T.R. Southwood, Ecological Methods: With Particular 

Reference to the Study of Insect Populations (Springer, 

2011) 577 

Isabel Sedgwick, Wicken Fen (National Trust, 2002) 

Lars Svensson, Peter J. grant, Killian Mullarney and Dan 

Zetterstrom, Collins Bird Guide (Collins, 2010) 598.094 

Carol Carysforth and Mike Neild, BTEC First Business 

Student Book (Pearson Education, 2013) 650.07 



12 

Finding information from electronic resources 

The LRCs subscribe to a range of electronic resources that can be accessed in 

college and from home. 

You can find these on the e-resources page of MyMet. 

Electronic resources include databases, e-books, and e-journals giving access 

to reliable information and research. 

Hindawi 

Over 400 open access journals 

are available to read on Science, 

Medicine and Technology. 

Recommended reading: Applied and Environmental Soil Science, International 

Journal of Plant Genomics, Advances in Biology. 

Taylor and Francis Online 

Access to abstracts and previews of 

articles. Look out for ‘Open Access’ in 

a green box next to a title to read an 

article in full and for free. 

Recommended reading: Journal of Home and Consumer Horticulture, 

Biological Agriculture and Horticulture, New Zealand Journal of Botany. 

Jisc Media Hub 

Images, videos and audio footage 

from archives and TV channels 

Images available from the Royal 

Horticultural Society. 



13 

Finding information on the internet 

Some good quality resources are available for free on the internet. 

It is always worth checking any website you use for information about 

authorship, accuracy, date created and updated and any bias to ensure that 

the information is reliable and suitable for your work. 

Royal Horticultural Society 

https://www.rhs.org.uk/ 

Information for those in the Horticultural sector and an organisation which 

runs shows and campaigns and offers qualifications. 

British Association of Landscape Industries 

http://www.bali.org.uk/ 

UK’s representative trade association for the landscaping sector. 

BBC Gardening 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/ 

BBC Gardening has information, factsheets, blogs and videos on iPlayer. 

The Gardening Website 

http://www.thegardeningwebsite.co.uk/ 

Help and information on designing and building gardens. 



14 

Finding printed journals 

A full guide containing all the journals subscribed to by the library, and the 

campuses they are held at, is available on MyMet. 

Biological Sciences Review 

The Biologist 

Available at SC 

Available at SC 

DVDs/CDs/Moodle videos 

We regularly make recordings from terrestrial and Freeview channels for 

educational purposes, some of these are available as a DVD and some you can 

view online via Moodle. 

Botany: A Blooming History. Episode 1: A Confusion of names 

What makes plants grow is a simple enough question. The answer turns out to 

be one of the most complicated and fascinating stories in science and took 

over 300 years to unravel. 

Timothy Walker, director of Oxford University Botanic Garden, reveals how the 

breakthroughs of Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, Chelsea gardener Phillip 

Miller and English naturalist John Ray created the science of botany. Between 

them these quirky, temperamental characters unlocked the mysteries of the 

plant kingdom and they began to glimpse a world where bigger, better and 

stronger plants could be created. Nurseryman Thomas Fairchild created the 

world's first artificial hybrid flower - an entirely new plant that didn't exist in 

nature. 

Today, botanists continue the search for new flowers, better crops and 

improved medicines to treat life-threatening diseases. 

Available on DVD 



15 

Botany: A Blooming History. Episode 2: Photosynthesis 

The air we breathe, and all the food we eat, is created from water, sunlight, 

carbon dioxide and a few minerals. That's it, nothing else. It sounds simple, but 

this process is one of the most fascinating and complicated in all of science. 

Without it there could be no life on earth. It's that important. 

For centuries people believed that plants grew by eating soil. In the 17th 

century, pioneer botanists began to make the connection between the growth 

of a plant and the energy from the sun. They discovered how plants use water, 

sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce sugars - how, in fact, a plant grows. 

The process of photosynthesis is still at the heart of scientific research today. 

Universities across the world are working hard to replicate in the lab what 

plants do with ruthless efficiency. Their goal is to produce a clean, limitless fuel 

and if they get it right it will change all our lives. 


Botany: A Blooming History. Episode 3: Hidden World 

For 10,000 years or more, humans created new plant varieties for food by trial 

and error and a touch of serendipity. Then 150 years ago, a new era began. 

Pioneer botanists unlocked the patterns found in different types of plants and 

opened the door to a new branch of science - plant genetics. They discovered 

what controlled the random colours of snapdragon petals and the strange 

colours found in wild maize. 

This was vital information. Some botanists even gave their lives to protect their 

collection of seeds. American wheat farmer Norman Borlaug was awarded the 

Nobel peace prize after he bred a new strain of wheat that lifted millions of 

people around the world out of starvation. Today, botanists believe advances 

in plant genetics hold the key to feeding the world's growing population. 




16 

Dispatches: Conservations dirty secrets 

Dispatches reporter Oliver Steeds travels the globe to investigate the 

conservation movement and its major organisations. Steeds finds that the 

movement, far from stemming the tide of extinction that's engulfing the 

planet, has got some of its conservation priorities wrong. 

The film examines the way the big conservation charities are run. It questions 

why some work with polluting big businesses to raise money and are alienating 

the very people they would need to stem the loss of species from earth. 

Conservation is massively important but few dare to question the movement. 

Some critics argue that it is in part getting it wrong, and that, as a 

consequence, some of the flora and fauna it seeks to save are facing oblivion. 




17 

E-books 

Harry Hoey, How to Pass Intermediate 2 Biology 

(2009): Available from Ebrary (link on MyMet) 

C.J. Clegg, Edexcel Biology AS (2008): Available from 

Ebrary 

T.C. Smout, Alan R. MacDonald, Fiona Watson, A 

History of the Native Woodlands of Scotland 1500- 

1920 (2004): Available from Ebrary 



18 

Information from other libraries 

Look up these websites for 

details of books and resources in 

other libraries: 

Birmingham Libraries Online 

Dudley Libraries Online 

Sandwell Library and 

Information Service 

Birmingham University 

Birmingham City University 

Aston University 

Finding more help 

You can find more information about the LRC’s on our Moodle and MyMet 

pages. 

Alternatively, speak to a member of staff, call us on 0845 155 0101 or email us 

at library@bmetc.ac.uk

Botanical Gardens

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