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In July 2015, BHL founding institution Smithsonian Libraries opened a new exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History entitled Fantastic Worlds: Science and Fiction 1780-1910. The exhibit invites visitors to explore the fantastic worlds of fiction inspired by 19th century scientific discovery and invention. It features fabulous natural history books on topics ranging from marine life to geology and dinosaurs and expeditions to the polar regions and interior Africa.

Welcome to 2016 and BHL’s latest batch of in-copyright content! We have 8 new titles to add to the list since our last post. Over the course of 2015, BHL secured the following:

Where possible, BHL acquires permission in the form of a signed license agreement from copyright holders to digitize post-1922 publications.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has selected the Expanding Access to Biodiversity Literature project as one of nine National Digital Platform Projects funded in 2015 as part of the National Leadership Grants for Libraries program.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter season is well underway. Cold temperatures mean that species of all kinds must face many new challenges in order to survive the next few months. Spiders are no exception. One might assume that spiders die off once winter hits. While this is true for some species, it is not true for all spiders – many remain active in winter months. How do they manage this? Through a variety of physiological and behavioral adaptations. Behavioral adaptations include moving their homes to “overwintering sites” such as the “subnivean zone,” an area between the snow and the ground, or concealed locations in leaf litter or under bark, where it’s warmer. Spiders also have a physiological adaptation that helps them brave the cold months.

The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) has selected the “Biodiversity Heritage Library Field Notes Project” for a 2015 Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives award. The award of $491,713 will help support increased accessibility to original scientific documentation found in archival field notes in participating institution collections. Field notes provide valuable, primary research data about species and ecosystems that is often unpublished or unavailable through other sources.

Over the years, we’ve discovered that social media is a pretty awesome way to learn more about our collections. Recently, a Twitter conversation helped us unravel the true identity of an incredible natural history artist. In November, one of our star citizen scientists Siobhan Leachman was working on adding artist machine tags to images in the BHL Flickr (want to learn more about how to do that? See this guide!). She was working on Wonders of the Bird World (1921), which was digitized for BHL by Cornell University Library. The title page stated that it was illustrated by A.T. Elwes.