All posts in Blog Reel

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!Along with wearing green, drinking a pint (or maybe more) of some good Irish beer, singing some Irish songs, or any other variety of activities you may be planning to partake in on this festive day, perhaps the most iconic tradition to undertake is the search for a four-leaf clover. The four-leaf clover is a traditional symbol of good luck, with each leaf representing something different: hope, faith, love and luck.

This week we feature another of our faithful BHL users, Dr. Toby Musgrave, whose work in horticulture has benefited greatly by his discovery of BHL. We asked him a few questions about how BHL has impacted his work, and we present them to you here in a traditional question and answer style.

The sad fate of the Eastern Cougar has now been officially declared by the U.S. Government – it is extinct. The status of this animal has long been a subject of controversy, with many, including the U.S. Government, declaring that the animal has been extinct since the 1930s. The disappearance of the Eastern Cougar is directly related to the arrival of settlers to the New World.

Per our user feature earlier this week on Dr. Charlotte Sleigh of the University of Kent, we feature a book that has been particularly important for Dr. Sleigh’s recent work: Dissertations relative to the natural history of animals and vegetables , volume 2 (1789), by Lazzaro Spallanzani. Dr. Sleigh’s current activities involve writing a book on the cultural history of frogs for Reaktion Books’ Animal series.

Continuing with our new series on our users and their interaction with BHL, this week we feature Dr. Charlotte Sleigh, Senior Lecturer in History of Science, University of Kent (UK), which we present in a typical question and answer interview style. So without further ado, meet Dr. Sleigh, and read what she has to say about how BHL has impacted her work, and what she would like to see from BHL in the future.

It’s one of the most frequently downloaded books from BHL. It was compiled over thirty years, in twelve volumes, and contains 794 copper plate engravings. It depicts and describes the flora of Asia and the tropics, focusing on the medicinal properties of the flora in the Indian state of Kerala. Species names are recorded in such languages as Konkani, Arabic, Malayalam, and Latin. It contains the type illustrations of many species, and was first published in Amsterdam in 1678-1693.

Here at BHL, we want to do a better job of connecting with our users. We want to interact with you, know what you think, what you would like to see, and have you contribute to the biodiversity conversation that shapes the development and progress of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. The recent debut of our new series on this blog, focusing on our users and how they use BHL for their work, is an example of our passion to get to know you, our users, more, and interact in new ways with you. However, the blog is not the only way we hope to accomplish this.