Natural History
Books that study organisms, including animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms, in their natural environments. They encompass a broad range of topics, including taxonomy, ecology, evolution, behavior, and conservation. Historically, natural history was a discipline that combined elements of biology, geology, and astronomy, often involving field observations, collections, and the documentation of species and their habitats.
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Zoology
Books that study animals, encompassing a broad range of topics related to their biology, behavior, evolution, ecology, classification, and physiology. Zoology plays a critical role in understanding the diverse forms of animal life on earth, their interactions with their environments, and their evolutionary relationships. The library holds a collection of texts that examine animals from a scientific point of view, as early as Conrad Gessner’s 16th century encyclopedic inventory of renaissance zoology.