Circulating Collections

Most of the circulating collections of the Sterling Morton Library are housed in the Library's main reading room. Borrowing privileges are granted to Arboretum staff, members and volunteers. Non-members are encouraged and welcome to use our collections on site. The children's collection, part of our circulating collection, focuses on books with positive environmental messages about trees, nature, ecosystems, birds and animals.

Within these collections, you'll be able to:

• Review our native flora in Plants of the Chicago Region by Swink and Wilhelm
• Explore the medicinal uses of our native cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum ) in Daniel Moerman's Native American Ethnobotany
• Learn when is the best time to prune forsythia in Lewis Hill's Pruning Made Easy
• Develop a greater appreciation of botanical art through Wilfrid Blunt's The Art of Botanical Illustration
• Gasp at the antics of Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg
• Discover how to propagate a katsura tree in Michael Dirr's The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation
• Study new watercolor techniques in Exploring Flowers in Watercolour by Siriol Sherlock
• Read about two remarkable scientists in The Natures of John and William Bartram by Thomas Slaughter