NEWS & NOTES
A quarterly newsletter from the Biodiversity Heritage Library
WINTER 2015

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.

BHL Reaches 45 Million Pages! 

In November, BHL reached a major milestone by providing free, open access to over 45 million pages of biodiversity literature. This represents over 91,000 titles and 156,000 volumes. New items are added to the collection weekly. Browse today!

 

CONABIO Joins BHL 
BHL and CONABIO staff at the MOU signing.
BHL & CONABIO staff at MOU signing.

On December 16, 2014, the Comisi�n Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity, or CONABIO) joined BHL as the 17th member and newest global node, BHL Mexico. CONABIO, who formalized its membership during a three day workshop with BHL Central representatives in Mexico City, brings a strong conservation perspective and is positioned to help expand BHL's reach to Spanish-speaking communities. Learn more.

 

Biodiversity Library Exhibitions

In December, BHL released two new online exhibitions: Early Women in Science and Latino Natural History. These exhibitions, sponsored by a grant from the Smithsonian Women's Committee to the Smithsonian Libraries, showcase content in BHL and include factoids, highlights, images, and publications from some of natural history's most remarkable women and Latino naturalists. Exhibition curators Adriana Marroquin (Latino Natural History) and Laurel Byrnes (Early Women in Science) built the exhibits using the Biodiversity Library Exhibition (BLE) platform developed by BHL Europe. Learn more.

 

We Need Books to Save Biodiversity
Arakan Forest Turtle
Akaran Forest Turtle. Thought extinct until rediscovered in a Chinese food market in 1994.

In December, BHL ran a fundraising campaign highlighting the importance of natural history literature and BHL within modern scientific initiatives to discover and save biodiversity. The appeal included a series of blog posts which discussed the application of historic literature in research related to extinction, taxonomy, and conservation. Thanks to the campaign and two associated email appeals, BHL raised $825 in donations from Australia, Italy, and the US. Since 2011, BHL has raised over 27,700 USD in user donations. Learn how you can help save biodiversity!


Browse by Contributor

In October, BHL implemented new "Browse by Contributor" functionality on the website, which allows users to discover BHL content based on the library that digitized the work. Explore today