You’ve probably driven past one of the world’s most renowned libraries and never even known it.
Hidden in a 1960s-era building a block from City Hall is the Lloyd Library and Museum. It holds centuries of information, illustrations, rare books and research that people travel from across the world to access.
The library was founded in the late 1800s by the three Lloyd brothers, who started as pharmacists and used their research to develop and manufacture plant-based medicines.
“We’re called ‘the plant library,’ but the reality is that we really are a nature library,” says Lloyd executive director Patricia Van Skaik. “Because plants don't exist in a vacuum. We have all sorts of things on nature and we also have a really extensive entomology, or bug collection.”
I’ve passed by the Lloyd Library probably hundreds of times over the years, and its compact, cantilevered building would catch my eye. I always wondered what was inside. And I’m not alone.
“We’re better known outside Cincinnati than we are inside,” Van Skaik said, as she excitedly showed me some of their materials that date back 400 years.
In 2019, researchers from 21 states and four countries visited this building, and online, 108 countries accessed its information.
“We get requests for materials from all over the world, from hospitals to the department of natural resources,” Van Skaik explains. Its catalog and website have been translated into more than 100 languages, showing the scope and the timeliness of its work, even 150 years after its founding.
“We are considered a scientific independent research library. But that doesn’t represent at all who uses us,” Van Skaik said.
Visitors to the Lloyd are artists, gardeners, students, environmentalists, historians and – these days – those interested in cicadas.
Incredible Insects is a cicada exhibition, both online and in person at the Lloyd through Aug. 4, featuring work from Mount St. Joseph professor and cicada expert Dr. Gene Kritsky and others.
This exhibition follows one detailing the history of medical marijuana. “The collections we have are critically important to answering the challenging issues of today’s world,” Van Skaik said. “In the last few years, it’s been really important to us to make our collections relevant to today.”
And nothing keeps you more relevant these days than social media, right? The Lloyd is finding a new audience there, with more than 18,000 followers on Instagram, and an ongoing digital dialogue about flora and fauna that wouldn’t be possible in person. It’s also started a podcast and created digital exhibits to reach a greater audience.
Plants don’t exist in a vacuum, and neither does learning about them.
You can find the Lloyd Library and Museum at 917 Plum St. downtown, and you can find Kathrine happily cicada-free (no offense, guys),weekday mornings at 10 a.m. on The Enquirer's Facebook page for Coffee break with Kathrine. You can also sign up to receive her weekly e-newsletter at cincinnati.com/newsletters.
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