The Council of Botanical & Horticultural Libraries is virtually hosting our 57th Annual Meeting May 6-8, 2025 (9-12pm AK / 1-4pm ET), focusing on the theme of “Where do we grow from here?” This theme is grounded in priorities we see as critical and fundamental to CBHL, our profession, and our institutions: discovery, diversity, advocacy, and sustainability. The conference is free to all and will include a keynote for Rhonda Evans, Director of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library at the New York Botanical Garden.
Blooming in Rough Soil: The Power of Libraries in Times of Uncertainty
Rhonda Evans, the Director of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, in her keynote address for the CBHL 2025 annual meeting will look back on the many examples of how libraries have survived, thrived, and supported their communities during turbulent times. Rhonda will explore how we can apply these lessons today, and specifically to the work of botanical and horticultural libraries.
Rhonda Evans is the Director of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library at the New York Botanical Garden, one of the largest and most comprehensive botanical libraries in the world. Rhonda joined NYBG from the New York Public Library where she held various roles over eight years. For most of her tenure at NYPL she was the Assistant Chief Librarian at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Rhonda has written for multiple library publications, including Libraries: Culture, History, and Society, Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, and the anthology The Black Librarian in America Reflections, Resistance, and Reawakening. Rhonda is very active within the museum and library professions. She was the former Co-Chair of the History Committee for the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, Rhonda has served as the Chair of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Intellectual Freedom Round Table, was an ALA presidential appointee to the Intellectual Freedom Committee, she recently worked with Lincoln Center on the Legacies of San Juan Hill Project, and currently serves on the board of the Museums Council of New York City. Rhonda has also taught in the MLIS program at Pratt Institute.