Welcome to the Biodiversity Heritage Library Blog

Sometimes I come across items in the BHL collection that elicit an immediate response. In this case it was, “Look at all those ears!”

It’s almost a year now since we moved to Bloomfield, and I’m still not over my disappointment at our new New Jersey home’s failure to honor its most distinguished citizen. Not a statue, not a plaque to be found anywhere; and that short boulevard leading to the cemetery turns out, alas, to be named for Woodrow.

Be a Marketing Intern for BHL! Are you a library student or recent graduate? Do you love biodiversity, writing, and old books? Love to blog, tweet, and post on Facebook? Then our new internship opportunity, hosted through the Smithsonian Libraries, is perfect for you! Learn more and apply today!

On Friday, January 25-Monday, January 28, 2013, BHL hosted a booth in conjunction with the Smithsonian Archive’s Field Book Project at the American Library Association (ALA) 2013 Midwinter meeting in Seattle, Washington. The booth was a chance to connect with the thousands of librarians and information professionals that attend ALA, introducing them to our open access initiatives and fantastic free resources.

Did you know that orchids are the national flower of Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and Venezuela? Or that an estimated 25,000 species live in almost every type of environment and continent except Antarctica? The Orchidiceae is one of the most iconic, beloved, and studied flower families in the world, particularly in Latin America where many species of orchid are found in large numbers and are entwined in local folklore, religious ceremonies, and cultural traditions.

Have you ever wanted to browse the stacks of a rare book library? To explore the pages of Gessner’s sixteenth century masterpiece Historiae Animalium and ask an expert why a walrus is illustrated with wing-like appendages? Or study Alexander Wilson’s passenger pigeon illustration and learn from a rare book authority the scientific implications of the depictions of now-extinct species?