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Spring Newsletter 2013

The Biodiversity Heritage Library
Inspiring discovery through free access to biodiversity knowledge

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) works collaboratively to make biodiversity literature openly available to the world as part of a global biodiversity community.

 

Introducing the New Biodiversity Heritage Library!
 
The new BHL homepage!
The new BHL homepage!
 
On March 18, 2013, the Biodiversity Heritage Library released a new user interface. The new interface includes an updated design and book viewer enhancements, including multiple column page viewing, OCR display alongside page images, and the ability select pages for a custom PDF while in book-viewer mode.

Furthermore, the ability to search BHL by article or chapter titles has been implemented. To date, over 90,000 articles and chapters have been indexed and are searchable within BHL. Finally, enhancements to BHL's taxon name-finding algorithm have resulted in the identification of over 50 million new names throughout the BHL corpus.


BHL Wins Prestigious Awards

This spring, BHL received two awards: a Laureate from IDG's 2013 Computerworld Honors Program and the CBHL Long Award of Extraordinary Merit. The Computerworld Honors Program recognizes visionary applications of information technology promoting positive social, economic and educational change. The Charles Robert Long Award of Extraordinary Merit from the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries (CBHL) honors outstanding contribution and meritorious service to CBHL or to the field of botanical and horticultural libraries or literature.


2013 BHL Institutional Council Meeting
 
Attendees at the 2013 BHL Institutional Council Meeting
Attendees at the 2013 BHL Institutional Council Meeting
 
The seventh annual BHL Institutional Council Meeting occurred at the Marine Biological Laboratory and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Library (MBL-WHOI) in Woods Hole, MA, on May 6-7, 2013. Representatives from eleven member libraries attended the meeting. Agenda topics included the BHL budget; strategic planning, including approval of new vision, mission, and goal statements; membership; and fundraising. Learn more.
 
BHL-Africa Logo
BHL-Africa Launches!
The Biodiversity Heritage Library for Africa (BHL-Africa) officially launched during a ceremony hosted by the South African National Biodiversity Institute at the Pretoria National Botanical Garden in Pretoria, South Africa on April 15.

Working within the global BHL consortium, BHL-Africa aims to provide open access to the valuable information held in Africa's biodiversity institutions, ensuring that this knowledge is available to a global audience. Learn more. 

New iTunes U Collections
   
In February, 2012, BHL launched the Biodiversity Heritage Library on iTunes U, providing access to select BHL books via iTunes. This spring, BHL released two new iTunes U collections.

  

The Notable Women in Natural History collection, created to celebrate Women's History Month in March, features selected works created by women who made direct contributions to the study of Botany and Zoology. Learn more.   

 

The Connecting Content through Archival Field Notes collection features a selection of field books digitized as part of the Connecting Content project. Learn more.   

 

- More News and Events -

New Vision, Mission, and Goals

BHL has a new vision, mission, and goals. Find them on our website!

Membership Updates

This spring, the Library of Congress signed an MOU with the Biodiversity Heritage Library, making it the fifteenth BHL partner library. Learn more.

BHL Partners with DPLA

BHL will serve as a digital content hub within the Digital Public Library of America, which launched on April 18. As a result of BHL's participation, links to over 111,000 BHL volumes will be available within the DPLA portal. Learn more.

BHL Interns

  

From March 4-8, BHL hosted Irina Zeylikovich as an alternate spring break intern from the University of Michigan School of Information. Learn more. BHL will host three additional interns this summer to support BHL outreach and virtual reference activities.  
In This Issue
The New Biodiversity Heritage Library
BHL Wins Prestigious Awards
2013 Institutional Council Meeting
BHL-Africa Launches
New iTunes U Collections
More News and Events
 
BHL at a Glance
Volumes Online: 113,000+
Pages Online: 40.8MM+
Flickr Images:
73,000+
Twitter Followers:
2,700+
Facebook Likes:
5,500+

Keep in Touch
 
 
Support BHL
We believe providing researchers with knowledge about biodiversity is critical to saving life on earth. Help us accomplish this goal by donating to BHL today. 
BHL Quarterly Report
BHL Report
Check out the BHL Quarterly Report to learn all about the BHL project and the progress we've made!