re Index Kewensis on CD ROM

[Don Kirkup]

As a botanist at Kew (but speaking for myself) I can sympathise with much
that has been said regarding the cost of IK on CD ROM and Les Watson's
comments relating to the general absence of any other effective means to
access the database for the wider botanical community.

In Kew's defense, my understanding is that the contractual obligations IK
has with the publishers effectively prevents wider dissemination of the
database and a very large element in the cost of the CD, is the licence for
the database retrieval engine, not for the data.

This situation may change since the contract with the publishers is due for
re-negotiation soon. In addition, Index Kewensis is working on a pilot
project together with The Grey Card Index and the Australian Plant Name
Index. The idea is to pool resources to produce a single 'Plant Names
Database' will be made available over the web.

don
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 Dr. Don Kirkup                                d.kirkup at rbgkew.org.uk

 Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew         Tel +44 (0)181 332 5231
 Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AE, United Kingdom      Fax +44 (0)181 332 5278
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