News and Information
02/19/2010
Michigan State resource getting bigger and better
By all indications it is onward and upward for Michigan State University’s Turfgrass Information Center , a comprehensive information service for professional turfgrass managers.
Started in 1983 through an association between the Michigan State University Libraries system and the U.S. Golf Association, TIC boasts what the university says is the world’s most comprehensive, public collection of turfgrass educational materials. Supported financially by an endowment known as The Campaign to Endow the Center, TIC is still growing, according to the annual report.
The center includes published and unpublished materials that focus on turfgrass science, culture and management as they relate to golf, athletic turf, sod, roadsides, institutional grounds and other managed landscapes. This includes periodical articles, books, fact sheets, pamphlets, images and Web documents.
A growing part of the center – both in volume and users – is its Turfgrass Information File database.
The TGIF database ballooned in 2009 to more than 157,000 records, almost half of which link to the full text of the work. That is an increase of 10.5 percent compared with the number of records located on the database in 2008. In fact, TGIF has grown in size (number of records or volumes) by at least 8.9 percent each of the past five years. And the number of those utilizing the service is growing even faster.
The number of searches for TIC and TGIF content has grown from 35,000 10 years ago to 1.39 million in 2009, according to the report.
The purpose of TIC, which is overseen by Pete Cookingham, is four-fold: to collect published and unpublished information for the various entities in the turfgrass industry; provide online access to turfgrass collections via the TGIF database; assist those using the system; and provide user workspace and electronic infrastructure to support collaborative turfgrass scholarship.
“The TIC has become an invaluable resource to the turfgrass industry,” said Trey Rogers,” Ph.D., professor of turfgrass management in Michigan State’s crop and soil sciences department. “The real tribute of this system goes to believers like director Peter Cookingham, his boss, (director of MSU libraries) Cliff Haka, and the United States Golf Association, who supported the efforts in the early years. Without these diligent efforts and support, this unique service would only be a pipe dream.”
Some of the new additions to the Turfgrass Information Center in 2009 include online availability of Practical Golf Greenkeeping, written by W.K. Gault and published in 1913. Only a handful of copies are known to be in existence worldwide.
James Beard, Ph.D., donated his turf library collection to the effort in 2003. Last year continued transferring monographic and periodical content, totaling more than 720 items, to Michigan State.
Likewise, the center’s O.J. Noer Memorial Turfgrass Collection also continued to grow in 2009.
Other additions of historic significance last year were the fifth edition of The Practical Greenkeeper by James Carter. Originally published around 1900, the fifth edition was released in 1913. Several other donations last year came from the likes of the USGA Green Section, and as well as Peter Dernoeden, Ph.D., Frank S. Rossi, Ph.D., Monroe Miller and many others.
