Scanning Locally, Collaborating Globaly: The Biodiversity Heritage Library. Martin R. Kalfatovic. VALA 2014. Melbourne, Australia. 6 February 2014.

1. Scanning Locally, Collaborating Globally
The Biodiversity Heritage Library
Martin R. Kalfatovic | BHL Program Director | Smithsonian Libraries
VALA 2014 | Melbourne, Australia | 5 February 2014

2. Good afternoon!
‫صباح الخير‬
Bon Jour
¡Buenos días
Bom dia
Habari ya asubuhi
Goeie môre

3. The Wherefore of BHL
The cultivation of
natural science cannot
be efficiently carried
on without reference
to an extensive library
Charles Darwin, et al
(1847)

5. Members … Washington University is #14
14 Members
• American Museum of Natural History
• California Academy of Sciences
Library
• Cornell University Library
• Harvard University Botany Libraries
• Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of
Comparative Zoology
• Library of Congress
• Marine Biological Laboratory and
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Library
• Missouri Botanical Garden Library
• Natural History Museum, London
• The New York Botanical Garden
• Royal Botanic Garden, Kew
• Smithsonian Institution Libraries
• United States Geological Survey
Libraries
• Washington University of St. Louis

6. Affiliates
Affiliates
Academy of Natural
Sciences Philadelphia at
Drexel University
The Field Museum Library
Newest Affiliate:

8. Biodiversity Heritage Library
Technology
Library
Science

9. Taxonomic Impediment
Specimen collections
Databases
Publications
Observations
‘Gray’ literature
Index cards
Field notebooks

11. Problems of Mass Digitization of Library Materials

12. Content Growth
2007-2014
42,498,407 pages
130,484 volumes
71,945 titles
4 February 201

13. Mass digitization of Smithsonian Libraries collections aligns
Problems of Library Metadata
with the overall Smithsonian digitization strategy and remains a
center of excellence for rapid digitization at the SI

15. User Statistics: 2007 - 2013
Visitors: 3,628,088
Page Views: 17,604,395
New vs. Returning: 50.06% vs. 49.04%
146,798 visitors | November 2012
2007
2013

16. 233233 Countries
countries
Users in

17. TheMachineIsUs/ingUs
<Response
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchemainstance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<Status>ok</Status>
<Result>
<Item>
<ItemID>16800</ItemID>
<Volume/>
<Contributor>MBLWHOI Library</Contributor>
<Sponsor>MBLWHOI Library</Sponsor>
<Language>English</Language>
<LicenseUrl/>
<Rights/>
<DueDiligence/>
<CopyrightStatus/>
<CopyrightRegion/>
</Item>

18. Awards
●
2013 ComputerWorld Award
●
●
2013 Council of Botanical and
Horticulture Libraries
●
●
2011 Thackray Medal by the Society for
the History of Natural History
●
●
2010 ALCTS award for outstanding
collaboration

19. May I compliment you on this splendid service? The
Library's invaluable for my work on seasonal
“
variability of climate and vector-borne disease in
T
British India, 1875-1940.
h
a
n
k
I really appreciatey your work. The Biodiversity Heritage
Library is an excellent resource that regularly helps my
o
u
assistant and I obtain original descriptions for plants .... I
feel so privileged m be working in a day in age when such
to
u
resources are so readily available and easy to obtain.
c
h
f
o
r
y
What an absolutely owonderful site.
u
It is a treasure trove of information.
r
Thank you!
h
e

20. Looking Forward
In any well-appointed
Natural History Library
there should be found
every book and every
edition of every book
dealing in the remotest
way with the subjects
concerned.
Charles Davies Sherborn
Epilogue to Index Animalium, March 1922

21. Looking Forward
In any well-appointed
Natural History Library
there should be found
every book and every
edition of every book
dealing in the remotest
way with the subjects
concerned.
Charles Davies Sherborn
Epilogue to Index Animalium, March 1922

22. And now on to our panel

23. Thank you!
Grazie!
Obrigado!
Danke!
Tack!
Děkuju!
Merci!
Dank u!
Asante!
Tak!
Благодарю!
Köszönöm!