visitors in the reading room looking at book displays

It’s National Library Week!

Celebrate spring in the library with exhibits, activities, and experiences that explore the role herbs, plants, and flowers have played in the history of science and medicine.

Join our curators and librarians for a fun after-hours event in the Othmer Library’s reading room where you’ll have the opportunity to

  • see unexpected treasures not usually on display
  • get a temporary tattoo
  • make a craft to take home
  • enjoy a taste of spring with a special botanical-themed cake and other light refreshments
  • support the library by adopting collection items
  • and much more!

Admission is free, and registration is required.

Featured image: Cupid Inspiring Plants with Love, hand-colored plate from Robert John Thornton’s A New Illustration of the Sexual System of Linnaeus, 1799.

More events

blue armchairs, shelves, columns in library
January 28, 2026
Free

Othmer Library Tour

Curious about the other half of the Science History Institute? Step into the Othmer Library of Chemical History!

Title page from A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons
January 31, 2026
For Families

Stories of Science: Last Bite of School Lunch

Join us in our museum EVERY SATURDAY for a family-friendly program that highlights strange and surprising stories from the history of science!

United Arab Emirates stamp featuring futuristic architecture and cherry blossom branch
February 4, 2026
Beckman Center

Understanding the Chemical Industry’s Financial Structures and Global Expansion to Inform its Transition to Sustainability

The 2026 T. T. Chao Symposium on Innovation will focus on the relationships between finance, patterns of ownership, and world trade, which are particularly significant for the chemical industry’s transition to sustainability in the 21st century.

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