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Libraries Unveils Whales: From Bone to Book
The Smithsonian Libraries opened its new exhibition Whales: From Bone to Book in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History on May 25. This exhibition is a collaboration between the Libraries and the museum's Department of Paleobiology. Bone to Book will be on display through April 2014.
 The Smithsonian has been studying whales since the 1850s, and its collections of modern and fossil whale specimens in the National Museum of Natural History are unmatched in the world. Teams of Smithsonian scientists, researchers and illustrators continue this legacy of investigation, collecting whale bones, placing them in the museum for study and publishing their findings. The Smithsonian Libraries is part of this process, housing the world's best collection of resources about marine mammals - from centuries-old books to electronic journals that publish the latest discoveries by Smithsonian researchers.
 This exhibition showcases Magnus Olaus's Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (Antwerp: 1557) and Conrad Gessner's Nomenclator aquatilibus animantium (Zurich: 1560). Also highlighted are the graphics of Smithsonian scientific illustrators past and present, including Elaine R.S. Hodges, Sydney Prentice and Mary Parrish, and objects such as an illustrator's tools, a printer's block of an ear bone illustration, hip and thigh bones of the fossil whale Basilosaurus cetoides, and the original specimen of the recently discovered Bohaskaia monodontoides.
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BHL for Africa Launches
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. Read More
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Libraries Featured on BBC News
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Nancy Gwinn Receives Honorary Degree
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Nancy Gwinn
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Dr. Nancy E. Gwinn, Director of the Smithsonian Libraries, was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from University of Wyoming on May 11. It is the university's highest award, and is given annually to individuals recognized internationally as leaders in their professions. Read more
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Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries Awards Biodiversity Heritage Library
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Ghana Night
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Bobbo Chappuci
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The Warren M. Robbins Library, National Museum of African Art, hosted Ghana Night on March 14. The evening featured a hand weaving demonstration by Bobbo Chappuci, master weaver of Ghanaian Ewe strip woven cloth.  On display were books on Ghanaian and other African woven cloth, including Listen, Listen, an artist's book by Ghanaian Atta Kwami, whose work is influenced by Ewe strip woven cloth. Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, Director of the National Museum of African Art, and head librarian Janet Stanley spoke at the event, which had over 60 guests in attendance.
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Unlocking Taxonomic Literature II
using Linked Open Data
 The Smithsonian Libraries kicked off another series of lectures with our Lead Web Developer Joel Richard, who spoke on Unlocking Taxonomic Literature II using Linked Open Data in the S. Dillon Ripley Center on May 16. Using Linked Open Data, the Smithsonian Libraries is bringing the Taxonomic Literature II guide to botany literature to the web in a searchable, shareable form. After an overview of linked data, Joel showed how the Smithsonian Libraries is creating Taxonomic Literature II online on its Drupal-based digital library website.
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Whale Research at the Smithsonian
Past, Present and Future
 The Smithsonian Libraries hosted a symposium, Whale Research at the Smithsonian: Past, Present and Future at the National Museum of Natural History on June 6. The symposium was in conjunction with our new exhibition Whales: From Bone to Book. The Smithsonian has studied whales since the 19th century, building unparalleled collections and yielding insights into these enigmatic species. Four distinguished speakers - Prof. R. Ewan Fordyce, Prof. D. Graham Burnett, Dr. Stephen Godfrey, and Dr. Nicholas D. Pyenson - discussed the origins of this legacy, its scientific value, and its future.
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The 
The Biodiversity Heritage Library received the 
access to its collections, many of which are irreplaceable. 
