The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is a digital library that provides open access to literature about biodiversity. It aims to digitize core biodiversity literature and collaborate with the global taxonomic community. BHL is made up of several major natural history and botanical libraries. It digitizes materials using various scanning centers and makes texts searchable using optical character recognition. BHL provides open access to literature to support research and initiatives like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

1. Biodiversity Heritage Library by Connie Rinaldo (crinaldo@fas.harvard.edu)

2. WHAT? MISSION: Provide Open Access to Biodiversity Literature GOALS Digitize the core published literature of biodiversity Collaborate with the global taxonomic community, rights holders and others “ The cultivation of natural science cannot be efficiently carried on without reference to an extensive library.” C. Darwin et al 1847 Darwin, C. R. et al. 1847. Copy of Memorial to the First Lord of the Treasury [Lord John Russell], respecting the Management of the British Museum. Parliamentary Papers, Accounts and Papers 1847 , paper number (268), volume XXXIV.253 (13 April): 1-3. [Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online

3. WHO? Member Partners American Museum of Natural History Field Museum of Natural History Natural History Museum, London Smithsonian Institution Missouri Botanical Garden New York Botanical Garden Royal Botanic Garden, Kew Botany Libraries, Harvard University Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University Marine Biological Laboratory / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution James Dwight Dana Zoophytes. Atlas , 1849

4. Internet Archive International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature Open Content Alliance European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) Atlas of Living Australia BioOne Many other negotiations underway WHO? Collaborators

5. WHY? Taxonomic literature has extreme longevity Current taxonomic literature often relies on texts and specimens > 100 years old. Literature repatriation Tractable, well-defined scientific domain Supports GBIF & other international initiatives

6. Internet Archive scanning centers in London, New York, DC, Boston, Illinois etc. Image files/text derived from OCR. HOW?

7. GOVERNANCE & PROCESS BHL is not a legal entity MOU with BHL (each member) By-Laws Institutional Council Executive Committee: Chair attends EOL Steering Committee BHL Project Director & part-time Deputy Wiki Annual Meetings of the Library Directors Conference Calls Executive committee (weekly) Staff in the trenches (weekly) Other Business (meetings or calls) Special projects Collections Technical staff Local staff Directors and staff

8. BHL Portal http://www. biodiversitylibrary .org Serve image and text files, create volume, part, piece metatata; ingest page level metadata Globally Unique Identifiers (GUIDs) to link to other services Taxonomic Intelligence: developed at MBLWHOI Uses sophisticated algorithm to locate name strings from the 9.4 million in NameBank from OCR Iterative processing of texts increases number of names in Namebank and also the accuracy of recognition. More tools under development Portal prototype developed at Missouri Botanical Garden based on botanicus.org

9. Seek Permissions Opt in Copyright Model: The BHL actively works with professional societies & associations to integrate their publications into the BHL in a way that serves the societies’ missions and goals BHL is digitizing learned society backfiles & serving them from the BHL Portal at no cost to the societies Files are available to the publishers for reuse as they see fit

10. Financial & Legal Sustainability Quick ramp-up: high early costs will drive long-term costs down. Derive some long-term costs from the operating budgets of the member institutions. Integrate functions/tasks with wider efforts where appropriate, e.g. mass storage. Make the BHL absolutely essential. Avoid legal conflicts Keep copyright infringement risk low Obtain permissions when possible Negotiate alternative agreements Move on if necessary Future Structure

11. Future Directions Multiple languages Links back to EOL Expanded taxonomic intelligence Geolocation Global partnerships: Malaysia, China, broader EU participation Beyond scientists: community needs Grey Literature & Archives Automated structural markup of journal literature