FTC Memorandum of Cooperation

MEMORANDUM OF COOPERATION

1. PURPOSE. The Flora of Texas Consortium (FTC) is organized to:

create an electronic database of information about the approximately 6,000 taxa of native and naturalized vascular plants of Texas

make this accessible via the internet through a mechanism such as the World Wide Web, in support of floristics, plant community studies, and the biotic history of the region

use the database to provide descriptions, regional synonymies, distribution maps, and to access illustrations

use the database to generate published floras of all, or parts, of the flora of Texas as required by the community. As presently conceived, the product of the project will be a distributed computerized database of information concerning all the native and naturalized vascular plants of Texas derived from a number of sources, one of the most important of which will be the data associated with the herbarium specimens deposited and maintained at Texas institutions.

2. MEMBERSHIP. Membership in the FTC is composed of representatives of those institutions in the state that are prepared to commit time and effort to the preparation of the database.

A. Charter Membership: Representatives of four Texas institutions will be asked to serve as charter members of the FTC and take the lead in implementing the project. This definition is not meant to be exclusive, but merely descriptive of the original (charter) membership.

B. Participating Membership: Representatives of any Texas Institution with interest in contributing information to the database are invited to become Participating Members of the FTC.

C. Individual Membership: There will also be a membership category for individuals not associated with an institution who wish to contribute to the database.

D. Collaborating Members: Individuals representing similar current projects may be invited to contribute particular expertise to the project.

Membership in the FTC implies a covenant with other members and assumes a degree of dedication to see the project through to completion.

3. COORDINATION. The necessity for officers is recognized as a functional reality. Therefore, the following offices are created and elected by the FTC membership, to have tenure as long as mutually agreeable or until the efforts of the FTC are completed.

A. Coordinator. The prime administrative officer, whose duties are to act as convener, chief advocate and representative for the FTC. The coordinator calls and chairs meetings of the FTC (at least twice per year) at locations in Texas.

B. Secretary. Records and disseminates to the membership, all of the transactions of the FTC meetings; edits and distributes an "FTC Newsletter."

C. Other officers. as needed for particular products of the project.

4. FINANCING. Members of the FTC are ultimately responsible for the funding of the work necessary for the completion of their contributions. The FTC, as an entity, will also seek collective support for the Flora of Texas Project.

5. PUBLICATION and ROYALTIES. Any profits derived from products of the Flora of Texas Project will be dispersed to the participating institutions in proportion to their contribution to those products.

6. ENDORSEMENT. The charter members of the FTC shall signify their membership on the appropriate endorsement page. The endorsement page shall also signed by the chief administrative officer of each charter member's home institution. The signed endorsements shall be appended to the original copy of the Memorandum of Cooperation, and copies shall be distributed to all signatories. The following are the home institutions of those individuals considered Charter Members, and the endorsement pages shall be appended in alphabetical order: Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Fort Worth; Biology Department, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos; Biology Department and Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management, Texas A&M University, College Station; and Plant Resources Center, The University of Texas, Austin. The memorandum shall be considered operative when the endorsements of each of these institutions are completed and appended. Further endorsement pages shall be provided for the acknowledgment of the administration of the Collaborating Members (Item 2 D above).

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