All posts by Grace Costantino

The Biodiversity Heritage Library Members’ Council elected a new Executive Committee at the BHL Annual Meeting in Singapore. The Executive Committee appointments include: Constance Rinaldo (Ernst Mayr Library, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University), Chair; Jane Smith (Natural History Museum Library, London), Vice-Chair; Doug Holland (Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter H. Raven Library), Secretary; and Nancy E. Gwinn (Smithsonian Libraries), Immediate Past-Chair.

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker was one of the most important botanists of the 19th century and Kew Gardens’ most illustrious Director (1865-1885). To celebrate the bicentenary of his birth this year, BHL is joining the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to highlight Hooker’s works and contributions as part of the #JDHooker2017 campaign.

Conrad Gesner (1516-1565) was a Swiss naturalist whose Historia Animalium is considered the starting point of modern zoology. 26 March is the anniversary of his birth, and institutions around the world will celebrate #GesnerDay by highlighting his publications and contributions on social media.

The Naturalis Biodiversity Center, a recent BHL Affiliate, is home to one of the largest natural history collections in the world, consisting of over 37 million specimens. Additionally, Naturalis has contributed nearly 200,000 pages to the BHL collection since 2016. Over 900,000 of the museum’s 37+ million specimens are butterflies, some dating back to the 18th century.

Effective February 27, 2017, the API methods GetPartEndNote and GetTitleEndNote will be removed. In addition, the BHL data exports that used the related format have already been removed. The removed BHL API methods and data exports will soon be replaced by methods and exports that use the RIS format, which is supported by a wider range of bibliographic reference managers. Thank you for your patience as we work to implement the RIS-based exports and API methods. If you have any questions, please submit them via our feedback form. You can learn more about our developer tools and APIs here.

This year, five NDSR residents will help us plan the next generation of BHL. You can stay up-to-date with their progress and findings on the new NDSR at BHL blog!