Library

The Wildlife Data Centre houses the largest and most comprehensive wildlife library for any region in North America. The library is divided into two main sections:
 

Reference Material

The reference section contains over 65,000 individual pieces of literature, comprised mainly of journal articles, books, theses, unpublished reports, and checklists

The reference section is divided into three sections:

a) Journals and Periodicals

Over 300 journal and periodical titles are housed in this section. Near complete runs are available for such professional journal titles as The Auk, The Condor, The Journal of Field Ornithology, The Wilson Bulletin, Canadian Field-Naturalist, Blue Jay, Wildlife Society Bulletin, and The Journal of Wildlife Management.

We also have many complete runs for British Columbia journals, periodicals, and newsletters, including BC Naturalist, British Columbia Birds, Muskrat Express, Discovery, and Victoria Naturalist.

We are always looking for donations to help fill or complete some of the journal titles that we currently have on file. A list of missing titles and issues will be available at this location soon.

b) Families

This section contains published papers, unpublished reports, books, and theses dealing with specific species, or species belonging to the same family. This literature is divided into specific families, then sorted by primary author and publishing year.

c) Other Work

This section contains thousands of published articles, unpublished reports, theses, and books dealing with a variety of topics related to wildlife and their habitats. Such topics include conservation and management, habitat loss and fragmentation, experimental ecology, and biodiversity monitoring studies. All of the topics are currently combined and sorted by author, but plans are in place to sort this section into the various topics for easier access.

Field Notes and Diaries

The field notes and diaries stored in our library are entirely donated by hundreds of individuals from throughout the province. Original and photocopied field notes date back to the late 1880s and comprise some of the most important historical observations on record. Some of our largest contributions (over 100,000 observations) come from such individuals as J.E. Victor Goodwill, Glenn R. Ryder, Werner and Hilde Hesse, R. Wayne Campbell, Linda M. Van Damme, Elmer Callin, Maurice Ellison, Ken C. Boyce, and Chris Siddle.

The Wildlife Data Centre is grateful to the many contributors that have volunteered their time and donated their field notes for the future of wildlife conservation in British Columbia. For the Wildlife Data Centre, such contributions are not taken for granted, and subsequently come with the promise that information contained in field diaries and notebooks will not be re-distributed or sold without the contributors permission. The Wildlife Data Centre is currently developing Data Sharing protocols so that issues around data sharing can be resolved amicably.