We are pleased to announce that the USDA National Agricultural Library (NAL) has joined the Biodiversity Heritage Library as a BHL Affiliate. BHL has already ingested over 845,000 pages of NAL-digitized content made openly available within the Internet Archive. This formal partnership will allow us to strengthen our collection of agricultural-related content through direct collaboration with NAL.

The National Agricultural Library (NAL) comprises one of the largest collections of materials devoted to agriculture in the world. Collection concentrations include the fields of agriculture, forestry, horticulture, entomology, poultry science, animal science, nutrition, botany, natural history and agricultural history. By statute, NAL is the primary depository of publications and information concerning the research and other activities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

As of October 2014, the total number of individual items in the NAL collection is 8.1 million. This includes a wide variety of formats such as books, journals, audiovisuals, motion pictures, photographs, posters, maps, manuscripts (papers of individuals and organizations), and objects. A large portion of this significant collection is held nowhere else in the world and constitutes a true national treasure.

Illustrated Hand-Book: Rawson’s Vegetable and Flower Seeds. 1894. An image from just one of the 1000s of seed catalogs that NAL and other BHL partner libraries have digitized for BHL.

The National Agricultural Library is committed to digitization both as a method to increase access and to prolong the life of the increasingly fragile print originals. NAL is actively digitizing historic USDA and other high demand, public domain items from its collection. Many of these items, both serial and monograph, fit within the scope of BHL, and, when the subject area is appropriate, the digital copies will be added to our collection. For example, NAL is currently digitizing non-USDA seed catalogs in cooperation with other BHL members for inclusion in BHL.

“Our approach is not to think of these activities as small discrete projects but rather as a long journey of digitization that will take many years,” explained Christopher Cole, Business Development Manager at the National Agricultural Library and NAL representative to BHL. “The BHL provides a venue for NAL to work with other institutions to pool our digital collections and enables us to cast a wider net and reach more users.”

NAL represents BHL’s fifth affiliate institution. BHL Affiliates are institutions or organizations that wish to participate in BHL outside of the membership dues-paying structure. Affiliates can contribute content, provide technical services, and participate in BHL committees, task forces, and working groups.

In addition to its affiliates, BHL currently consists of 16 member libraries. BHL Members may contribute content to BHL, participate in appropriate groups and committees, provide technical services, contribute financial support, vote on strategic directives, and generally help govern the BHL program. Visit BHL to learn more about BHL Members and Affiliates.

We are excited to welcome the National Agricultural Library to the BHL family and look forward to the valuable contributions they will make to our library. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to receive updates about BHL Member and Affiliate contributions and events.

We are pleased to announce that the Research Library at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the Lenhardt Library of the Chicago Botanic Garden have joined the Biodiversity Heritage Library as BHL Affiliates. The addition of these libraries not only expands BHL’s presence within the research community, but will also greatly strengthen our library through the incorporation of literature unique to these affiliates’ collections.

The Research Library at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC) holds over 200,000 books, journals, maps, rare books and Special Collections materials pertaining to a variety of natural history fields. With such a rich collection of biodiversity-related materials, and a research staff that already makes heavy use of BHL resources, an active partnership with BHL was a logical step for NHMLAC.

“I was very excited to attend the BHL Life and Literature meeting in Chicago a few years ago and realize that so many librarian and other colleagues of similar institutions were there,” said Richard Hulser, Chief Librarian of the NHMLAC Research Library. “I believe participation in BHL will help heighten awareness of NHMLAC unique resources to a wider audience and enable my institution to contribute to the exciting new digital library and big data initiatives currently transforming the study of natural history.”

Within its affiliate capacity, NHMLAC aims to contribute missing volumes for existing titles within BHL, as well as other works not yet part of BHL. Hulser will also leverage his existing relationships in the natural history and library communities to help increase awareness about BHL, as through his scheduled presentation for Internet Librarian International in the UK in October 2014.

The Lenhardt Library of the Chicago Botanic Garden holds 125,000 volumes pertaining to gardening, botany, plant conservation, and landscape design, with formats ranging from rare books to e-books. As part of its affiliation, the Lenhardt Library plans to contribute digitized rare books and journals to BHL, as well as missing issues from titles currently in our collection.

“I am so pleased that the Lenhardt Library has the opportunity to share its unique digitized botanical literature with a subject-specific audience of biodiversity researchers,” said Leora Siegel, Lenhardt Library Director. “BHL is innovative, and I look forward to learning more about its offerings and other potential avenues for contributing resources.”

With the addition of NMHLAC and Chicago Botanic Garden, BHL now recognizes four affiliate institutions. BHL Affiliates are institutions or organizations that wish to participate in BHL outside of the membership dues-paying structure. Affiliates can contribute content, provide technical services, and participate in BHL committees, task forces, and working groups.

In addition to its affiliates, BHL currently consists of 16 member libraries. BHL Members may contribute content to BHL, participate in appropriate groups and committees, provide technical services, contribute financial support, vote on strategic directives, and generally help govern the BHL program. Visit BHL to learn more about BHL Members and Affiliates.

We are excited to welcome the NMHLAC and the Chicago Botanic Garden to the BHL family, and look forward to the valuable contributions they will make to our library. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to receive updates about BHL Member and Affiliate contributions and events.