US: Floriculture InfoSearch Engine puts decades of info at your fingertips

Industry members now have online access to a comprehensive floriculture library containing information that may have been previously unavailable. The American Floral Endowment (AFE) has partnered with North Carolina State University (NCSU) to create the Floriculture InfoSearch Engine, a powerful search engine for convenient and comprehensive access to floriculture literature, videos and presentations.

The website also contains a floriculture archive with materials from AFE, NCSU, scientific journals and trade publications, all of which is accessible and searchable through one website.

“We want to thank a couple of floriculture pack rats, George Staby and Harold Wilkins, for opening their files to us and several industry groups and magazines for allowing us to scan and enter their articles,” project leader and NCSU Horticultural Science Department Head John Dole, Ph.D. said. “This project is a wonderful example of what can be done when several groups work together to benefit the floriculture industry.”

AFE, the NCSU College of Agriculture Life Sciences (CALS) and the NCSU Department of Horticultural Science are funding the project, available online now.

“I am excited about this project, as it will make horticultural research much more accessible and will safeguard the information should journals go out of print or researchers retire,” AFE treasurer/secretary Ken Altman of Altman’s Plants said.

The search engine will be continuously updated with additional information – dating as far back as the early 1800s – as it becomes available.

“Information is of no use to anyone if they can't find it,” Dole said. “The AFE Archive will allow everyone to easily find and use the rich trove of great scientific and trade articles published over the years.”