All posts by Carolyn Sheffield

We’re very excited to share that yesterday, October 9, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) launched their new web portal as part of the 20th meeting of the GBIF Governing Board.  The new portal provides greatly enhanced access to the world’s largest database of documented evidence for the distribution of species across the planet. The scientific meeting was held in Berlin and webcast for the press and public. Tim Hirsch, Senior Program Officer for Engagement, and Tim Robertson, Information Systems Architect, introduced and demonstrated some of the new features now available.

Two BHL-related projects were recently presented during the Digital History and Philosophy of Science (Digital HPS) meeting held at Indiana University, Bloomington, September 6-7. Trish Rose-Sandler, from the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Center for Biodiversity Informatics, spoke about the Art of Life project.  Daron Dierkes, from the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Peter H. Raven Library, spoke about the George Engelmann Correspondence Project. The Art of Life is a project to identify and describe the rich natural history illustrations hidden within the pages of BHL literature.

BHL is pleased to announce that its Summer Newsletter is now available!  As you’re enjoying the final days of summer, check out our latest newsletter to catch up on all that we’ve accomplished in the past few months.  For example, find out how our partnership with EOL has recently become a little closer, learn what our first iBook is about,   and see our latest digitization statistics.

Wondering what BHL has been working on lately? Check out our latest quarterly report which details our production statistics and showcases some of our most recent exciting project accomplishments!

This summer, the Library of Congress hosted five-day Summer Teacher Institutes in Washington, DC. As part of the most recent Institute, BHL shared an exhibit table on Science and Technology with the Library of Congress on Tuesday, August 6, 2013. Carolyn Sheffield, of the Smithsonian Institution, shared information on BHL and distributed stickers, pins, and BHL business cards—complete with gorgeous illustrations from BHL.

The Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution 2013 Annual Conference occurred in Chicago, IL, July 7-12.  Tomoko Steen, of the Library of Congress, promoted BHL to conference attendees, including many scientists, teachers and experts in ecology and evolution.  Steen distributed pins and stickers and also posted a description of BHL, prepared by Grace Costantino, to the evoldirdirectory. Many attendees were interested to learn about BHL and several expressed interest in attending a BHL presentation at future conferences.