The Biodiversity Heritage Library at the American Library Association Annual Meeting 2013
The American Library Association 2013 Annual Meeting occurred in Chicago, IL, June 27-July2. BHL hosted both a poster and a presentation as part of the conference.
ALA Poster Sessions
The BHL poster, entitled “The Power of Crowdsourcing: A Use Case from the Biodiversity Heritage Library,” was showcased on June 29, 2013. Authored by Gilbert Borrego and Grace Costantino, the poster presented the work BHL has done to crowdsource species identification and tagging for the thousands of BHL Flickr images. The poster focused specifically on BHL’s three Flickr tagging parties, which, as the poster demonstrates, resulted in an 53% increase in the number of images tagged during a month and an 84% increase in the number of images added to the EOL image collection for BHL.
The poster session was well attended. Martin Kalfatovic, Diana Duncan, and Suzanne Pilsk attended the poster on behalf of Gilbert and Grace and answered a number of questions about BHL and BHL’s participation in Flickr.
See the poster for yourself on the BHL Pinterest!
BHL presentation at the International Relations Round Table, American Library Association Annual Meeting
Martin Kalfatovic and Nancy Gwinn gave a BHL presentation to a group of nearly seventy librarians at the International Relations Round Table pre-conference: Innovative Library Services and Programs in Digital Era – An International Perspective.
The session generated many questions about BHL, participation, and particularly international participation. A number of good contacts were generated and goodwill created for the BHL.
View the presentation below: The Biodiversity Heritage Library. Martin R. Kalfatovic and Nancy E. Gwinn. International Relations Round Table, American Library Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, IL, 28 June 2013.
Martin R. Kalfatovic is BHL Program Director and Associate Director, Digital Programs and Initiatives Division, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. As the BHL Program Director, Mr. Kalfatovic functions as the executive director and manager of the international consortium of over 80 natural history, botanical garden, government, and university libraries engaged in the mass digitization of taxonomic literature. The position also serves as a key contact for government, NGO, and academic leaders at both the national and international level. Within his role at Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, Mr. Kalfatovic is responsible for the Libraries’ active Digital Library program. This program includes the creation of digital editions of library materials, online exhibitions, and new digital publications.
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