JARS v46n3 - 1000 Citations to Rhododendron & Azalea Research

1000 Citations to Rhododendron & Azalea Research
Homer E. Salley, Ed. D.
Grand Rapids, Ohio

A compilation of existing rhododendron research has been a felt need for some time now by the Research Foundation of the American Rhododendron Society. An effort was made toward such a work in 1987, but it was never completed and was not distributed. In April, 1991, the Foundation approved a proposal submitted by this author that has resulted in a database of 1000 citations with brief abstracts. Included are complete research reports, journal articles, and related scholarly data. A collection has been made of all the reports, either the originals or photocopies as permitted by copyright. Complete monographs are not included, but some excerpts are. English abstracts are cited for articles available only in other languages.

A database serves to direct the researcher to the work of others who have worked in the same or related fields. It may serve too as a guide to the Foundation when considering requests for funding. It will be useful to libraries serving those with a scientific quests for funding. It will be useful to libraries serving those with a scientific library searching or making inter-library loan requests.

Methods and Materials Used

To begin, a search was made in the databases at the National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD: ARGICOLA, CAB, and AGRIS. Works on the subject "Rhododendron or Azalea" were downloaded to diskette and then printed to hard copy. A second major source for records were the reports themselves; many had very good bibliographies citing additional related research.

The author used an IBM-compatible computer, model 286, with 40 meg hard drive; a laser-jet printer; the word processor was WORD STAR (ver. 6) and the database manager was FOXPRO 1.02. A computer program consultant prepared the software based on FOXPRO; designed for our purpose, it was named RHODRES. When all the basic information was fed to RHODRES it grouped records by subject field and ordered them according to date, the oldest first. WORD STAR was used to prepare the author and subject indexes.

This Volume One lists 1000 records, by 612 "primary" authors, collected from over 161 different publications, found in 10 different libraries. Another Volume is planned annually and as funds are made available for updates. The original proposal should be completed by July 1993.

The works are grouped into nine subject areas and listed in the Table of Contents. These subjects are coded by numbers as shown at the top of each page of the database. Within each subject field the records are arranged by date of publication, the oldest first; all records have been assigned an accession number, preceded by a subject code number. Number 06-0075 concerns propagation (06) and is the 75th record on the subject. "Reproductive Biology of Rhododendron" is record 04-0044, a 65-page article in Horticultural Review, 1990.

A listing of journals searched is given. An 18-page author index is provided and a 22-page subject index. A quick glance will tell the reader what authors have worked in certain subject areas.

The 244-page, spiral-bound publication is available from the Office of the ARS Executive Director. $20.00 postpaid to members; $25.00 to non-members.

Homer E. Salley is Professor Emeritus, University of Toledo, and coauthor of Rhododendron Hybrids: A Guide to their Origins and Rhododendron Hybrids, Revised Edition.