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In the early 1930s, the name of Chester A. Reed was known to all amateur and professional ornithologists in the United States and Canada. Today, there are few who remember him. And yet, he was the first to develop the concept of the “Field Guide ” by publishing his Bird Guide Part 2, Land Birds East of the Rockies (1905)*, which presented for  the  first time colored illustrations of birds in a small format book convenient for use in the field (3 X 5 ½ inches).

This past June, BHL-Staff visited Cape Town, South Africa for a series of meetings aimed at developing a BHL for sub-Saharan Africa. The meeting brought together 20 African participants from six countries with a variety of backgrounds including Librarians, Researchers, and Information Technologists. One such individual was Margaret Koopman, a librarian at an ornithological institute in South Africa. Margaret uses BHL regularly to help her fulfill the needs of her patrons, and she graciously agreed to be interviewed about that usage for our blog.