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The UA Libraries is heading up a project that will bring together knowledge about the Sonoran Desert that nearly three dozen organizations have collected over time.

By La Monica Everett-Haynes, University Communications
February 25, 2008

The Sonoran Desert, said to be the warmest desert in North America and the most biologically diverse in the world, spans a region in southern Arizona, Mexico, California and Baja California.

But just how much do you really know about the Sonoran Desert – its vegetation, resources, inhabitants, and archaeological and historic sites?

The University of Arizona Libraries is leading a project to consolidate information and research data that nearly three dozen UA units, museums and other organizations have collected over time specifically on the Sonoran Desert.

The Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange is a collective – of sorts – made up of some of the leading organizations studying the Sonoran Desert as well as those attempting to preserve the desert and others who have taken a general interest in the desert.

“The challenge has been that most of these entities work independently and didn’t know what the other was doing,” said Bess de Farber, grants and revenue manager for the UA Libraries. “We’re trying to change this situation.”

Trying to change the situation to aid not only the organizations, de Farber added, but also to make information readily available to educators, students, researchers and others.

Currently, graduate students Kimberly Franklin, who is pursuing a degree in the graduate interdisciplinary program in insect science, and Lisa Schwartz, who is studying education, have been interviewing organizations and creating a plan for a Web portal to host all of the information and materials collected.

"We are finding that there is a lot of work being done in areas that pertain to Sonoran Desert biodiversity that people outside of a particular field of study may not know about," Franklin said.

"Concerned citizens might not know about the Sonoran Desert Weedwackers Program, or the Tucson Bird Count, or Boyce Thompson's monarch tracking program," she said.

Among the items Franklin and Schwartz are inquiring about include digitized and non-digitized photographs, research reports and scientific data sets, educational materials, pamphlets, information guides and more.

“It’s building the community for these organizations so that they understand what resources the others have,” said Kimberly Chapman, an assistant librarian for the UA Science-Engineering Library.

The Arizona Geological Survey, Arizona Cooperative Extension, Arizona Native Plants Society, the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Santa Rita Experimental Range, the Rincon Institute and Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability are among those involved in the exchange.

“It will make it easier for them to share information and also provide a place where people can go to find any kind of information about the Sonoran Desert,” said Chapman, also one of the project’s principal investigators.

The UA’s Office of Arid Lands Studies, the Pima County Public Library and Tree of Life Web Project are partners on the project, which received a $28,000 grant from Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records to begin the project and hold four public events.

Though the library’s research continues, the exchange officially kicks off with a community showcase on Wednesday that is free and open to the public.

The event, which will be held in the Main Library’s Special Collections area, will serve to educate the public about the Sonoran Desert Knowledge Exchange while sharing what its experts already know about the desert.

“SDKE’s overarching goal is to organize and share information about and enthusiasm for the Sonoran Desert with everyone who may have an interest,” Chapman said, “from hikers to students and teachers to citizen scientists.”