All posts by Martin R. Kalfatovic

Global Biodiversity Heritage Library members participated in the Fourth International Conference on African Digital Libraries and Archives at the University of Ghana in Accra. The conference, 27-28 May 2015, was attended by representatives from across Africa, the United States, and Europe. ICADLA: The conference opened with welcome from Ernest Aryeetey, Vice-Chancellor (University of Ghana) and the Felix Kwakye Ofosu (Deputy Minister of Communication).

On June 12, 2006, representatives from the first ten partners of the just forming Biodiversity Heritage Library met in Washington at the Smithsonian Institution to plan for the formation of the BHL. Representatives from the Smithsonian Libraries; the Missouri Botanical Garden; the Natural History Museum (London); the Marine Biological Laboratory / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Library; the American Museum of Natural History; the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; the Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology; and the Field Museum attended the meeting.

BHL Program Director Martin Kalfatovic attended the DPLAFest 2015 in Indianapolis (April 17-18) representing both the BHL content hub and the Smithsonian content hub. DPLAFest drew over 300 people to the public programs held at the Indianapolis Public Library, the Indiana State Library, IUPUI University Library, and the Indiana Historical Society. DPLA Director of Content Emily Gore gave important updates on the DPLA hub model and how DPLA hopes that it will evolve over time. At the open poster session during the reception on the first day of DPLAFest, BHL presented

On 13 April 2015, BHL Program Director Martin R. Kalfatovic attended the GBIF-CoL-EOL-BHL-BOLD Summit at Naturalis in Leiden, Netherlands. This meeting followed on the preceding Catalogue of Life meeting in Oostende, Belgium. The meeting took place in the historic Pesthuis on the Naturalis campus. Other participants were: The purpose of the meeting was to discuss synergy and explore potential for intensifying collaboration concerning infrastructure, software tools, and services.

BHL Program Director Martin R. Kalfatovic attended the Catalogue of Life Mini-symposium at the Flanders Marine Institute in Oostende, Belgium on 2 April 2015.

The staff of the BHL are saddened to announce the recent death of Cathy Norton. Cathy, former Library Director of the MBLWHOI Library, was a founding member and a guiding force during the early years of the BHL. Cathy served as the first Vice-Chair of the BHL Executive Committee and later as Chair. Nancy E. Gwinn, current Chair of the BHL Executive Committee said “Cathy was an indefatigable spirit whose enthusiasm buoyed the whole BHL group, members and staff, from the beginning. She will be sorely missed.” Constance Rinaldo, BHL Vice-Chair added “Cathy was an inspiration professionally and personally.

BHL Program Director Martin Kalfatovic and Harvard Botany Librarian Judy Warnement attended the 7th Annual Global Plants meeting. Chuck Miller (Missouri Botanical Garden) serves on the GPI Steering Committee. The Global Plants Initiative, originally sponsored by the Mellon Foundation, has provided funding for the digitization of herbarium specimens and related materials that are made available via the JSTOR Global Plants platform. JSTOR Global Plants/GPI provides a worldwide audience with invaluable access to botanical information.