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On August 15, 2007, Internet Archive staff (Melissa Bell) began scanning BHL materials at Smithsonian Libraries. The Smithsonian Libraries’ Scribe joins operations in Boston, London, and Urbana-Champaign that are contributing to the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

The Biodiversity Heritage Library: An Overview Hosted by Smithsonian Institution Libraries

Join Smithsonian Libraries’ staff and others for an overview of the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) project. The BHL is a cooperative mass-scanning project done in collaboration with the Internet Archive. The BHL plans to digitize a significant portion of the legacy taxonomic literature (pre-1923 and selected titles after) and provide open access for all users.

The Smithsonian hosted the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature’s meeting on ZooBank on May 11th. The Biodiversity Heritage Library was a key discussion point of a number of the talks.

Thanks to Dr. Gary Borisy from MBL for mentioning BHL on NPR, and to Brewster Kahle from the Internet Archive for calling the Biodiversity Heritage Library a “shining example” of open access!

The BHL officially went live today with the launch of the Encyclopedia of Life. After a press event at the National Press Club (Washington), EOL, BHL, friends, and supporters gathered at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington to celebrate the official launch of the project.

The BHL member libraries now have approximately 1.25 million pages online or queued for delivery. Over half of these pages are available through the BHL portal.