[Taxacom] Sad news: Brooklyn Botanic Garden Science Department and BKL Herbarium shutting down operations

[Kobinah Abdul-Salim]

It is with great sadness that I report that operations of the Science
Department of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden have been indefinitely suspended
(I have been a research associate at the herbarium there for a little over
a year, while teaching at nearby Medgar Evers College (CUNY)).  The
department encompasses  the BKL Herbarium, the BBG Science Library, and
associated research facilities. As of last Thursday, August 22, the entire
senior research staff has been laid off, and we have been scrambling to
process and return materials on loan. As of today, there are no concrete
plans to restructure the department, nor is there any word as to what will
become of the collection.

Word of the closure is slowly filtering through news sources, who most
major so far by the NY Daily News:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/botanic-garden-prunes-science-staff-article-1.1438606

Also local reporting by DNAInfo:
http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20130823/prospect-heights/brooklyn-botanic-garden-cuts-science-staff-weeks-after-native-garden-debut

For those who care about herbaria and collections-based science, I would
encourage you to voice your concern to BBG president Scot Medbury (scotmedbury
at bbg dot org).

A terrible loss to a great botanical institution, and botany!

Kobinah Abdul-Salim
Assistant Professor of Biology
Medgar Evers College (CUNY)