The Biodiversity Heritage Library continued our 20th anniversary celebration at our Annual Meeting in London from 27 April to 1 May. This year, founding members and 10th anniversary co-hosts, the Natural History Museum, London and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, welcomed 46 representatives from 30 institutions across 8 countries to gather and plan for BHL’s future.

The attendees of the 2026 BHL Annual Meeting in the library of the Natural History Museum, London, with Charles Darwin. Photo credit: Victoria Devonport, NHM London

Though we took time to reflect on the successful collaborations of the past 20 years of BHL, this meeting was truly a time for looking forward. For me personally, this was my sixth BHL annual meeting and the most personally energizing. I started with BHL in March 2020 as BHL’s Program Manager. My first task was to help pivot the planned annual meeting in Paris to be fully virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Every annual meeting since has presented its own unique opportunities and challenges; none more challenging than the 2025 annual meeting in which BHL was asked to develop an urgent transition plan to separate from the Smithsonian Institution in less than 9 months. In stark contrast, by April 2026, BHL is now operating under its new home at the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) and moving its technical infrastructure to the Field Museum. We have retained our existing staff and expanded our consortium with new Members. For me, nothing is more revitalizing than gathering with the dedicated and enthusiastic contributors and supporters of BHL.

Strategic Planning

The major focus of the 2026 annual meeting was strategic planning. The BHL Executive Committee (EC) has been leading the global consortium through a strategic planning process in early 2026 to establish new goals for 2026 through 2030, as well as targeted 2 year operational plans to achieve those goals. With the transition to our new fiscal home under CLIR and the migration of our technical hosting to the Field Museum, 2026 is a year of great change for how BHL manages its daily operations.

Bianca Crowley, Digital Collections Manager, presents a new concept for regional coordination hubs. Photo credit: Colleen Funkhouser

During the business meetings throughout the week, the consortium reviewed how our committees and working groups operate, explored options for better regional support and collaboration, and identified gaps to address in our governance and committee roles. We also welcomed representatives from our newest Members (University of South Florida Libraries, Vanderbilt University Heard Libraries, and Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung), bringing fresh perspectives, regional expertise, and new ideas to our collaborative consortium.

We also focused on long-term funding strategies for supporting BHL beyond 2027. Though the Call for Support in 2025 garnered many opportunities for financial, technical, and administrative support, which stabilized BHL’s operations during a critical period of change, the long term funding model for BHL is still a work in progress and a major focus of the year ahead.

As the consortium works to finalize its revised vision, mission, and strategic goals, we’ll be reporting out to the community throughout the year.

Stakeholder Listening Session

On Wednesday 29 April, BHL held a strategic stakeholder session to gather key collaborators from across the biodiversity informatics landscape. BHL’s EC, Secretariat, and Technical Team were on hand to hear our stakeholders’ priorities for technical development, desires for content enhancement, and opportunities for greater collaboration or technical integration. Though BHL engages at various levels with these stakeholders, including GBIF, CETAF, BioStor, Global Names Architecture, Plazi, NHM, and Kew, this collective stakeholder meeting was a first for the BHL Annual Meeting.

BHL Day 2026: Towards a Biodiversity Data Ecosystem Built on BHL Data

Following the stakeholder session, we welcomed more than 120 attendees (online and in person) to the BHL Day 2026 public symposium hosted in the Flett Theatre at NHM. This year’s focus was on the importance of BHL data in building the biodiversity data ecosystem. We heard from colleagues and researchers across the globe on how they have utilized BHL data over the past 20 years to advance their research, and how future developments can improve and expand BHL’s data integration.

Qianqian Hiris Gu and Ben Hartley from NHM London share the possibilities of using modern AI and Large Language Models to extract data from BHL at scale. Photo credit: Nicole Kearney

Thanks to the collaborative nature of this BHL community, two speakers, Siobhan Leachman from Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand and Liz Smith from Cambridge University Library and Archives, brought their unique knowledge and skillsets together to solve an outstanding challenge in sharing data from the Darwin Correspondence Project. Siobhan shared more about this on-the-spot collaboration on the newly launched BHL Community Forum.

For a complete listing of BHL Day presentations and recordings, visit https://bit.ly/bhlday2026

Exploring the rich collections around London, Richmond, and Cambridge

It wouldn’t be a BHL annual meeting without visits to the rich library, archive, museum, and botanical collections around our host cities. Our Chair and Vice-Chair organized behind the scenes visits with some of the outstanding scientific collections in London, Richmond, and Cambridge. We started Monday afternoon at the Royal Society and the Linnean Society of London, exploring their deep histories and unique collections.

Keith Moore, Head of Library and Information Services for the Royal Society, reads from the Society’s Charter Book containing the signatures of Society fellows dating back to 9 January 1665. Photo credit: Colleen Funkhouser

At the Linnean Society, attendees visited several exhibitions in the Library’s reading room, including Homo sapiens: Classifying the Human Animal and the portrait exhibition Celebrating the Linnean Society’s First Women Fellows, as well as rare materials selected on the topic of biodiversity.

Will Beharrell, Librarian, Linnean Society Library, shares unique items selected for viewing by meeting attendees. Photo credit: Colleen Funkhouser

Dr. Isabelle Charmantier, Head of Collections, shares items from the Linnaeus Collections. Photo credit: Colleen Funkhouser

On Wednesday, meeting attendees received several behind-the-scenes tours of NHM, including the Historical Collections Room (pre-Linnean specimens), the Tank Room, and of course the Library and Archives.

On Thursday, Kew staff provided access to unique treasures from the Library and Archives collections. This included the oldest printed book held by the Library: the Ortus Sanitatis, a 15th century herbal printed in Germany in 1485.

Meeting attendees view rare materials from Kew’s Library and Archives collections with Irene Szmelter, Library Graduate Trainee. Photo credit: Nicole Kearney

A selection of materials from the Kew Library and Archives collection. Photo credits: Nicole Kearney

On Friday, Vice-Chair Rich Wragg coordinated a day-long tour of institutions in Cambridge, including the Museum of Zoology, St. John’s College, the historic Wren Library at Trinity College, and the Cambridge University Library.

Russell Stebbings sharing the fascinating history of the invertebrate collections at Museum of Zoology Cambridge. Photo credit: Nicole Kearney

Librarian Tanya Kirk taking BHL Members through The Old Library of St John’s College at Cambridge University. Photo credit: Nicole Kearney

Steven Archer, Sub-Librarian of Trinity College Cambridge, showing BHL Members treasures from Trinity’s Wren Library. Photo credit: Nicole Kearney

Jill Whitelock, Head of Special Collections, showcasing special items from the Cambridge University Library. Photo credit: Nicole Kearney

Draft plates from British botanist Charles Cardale Babington’s “The British Rubi: an attempt to discriminate the species of Rubus known to inhabit the British Isles, from the Cambridge University Library. Photo credit: Nicole Kearney

Happy Anniversary, BHL

Meeting attendees, strategic stakeholders, and BHL Day speakers gathered after the public symposium for a reception to celebrate 20 years of BHL. Since its founding in 2006, BHL has grown into a core biodata infrastructure serving the global biodiversity community. Cheers to the next chapter for BHL!

The BHL Executive Committee, Transition Team, and Secretariat members share a toast to 20 years of BHL. Left to right: Rich Wragg, Bianca Crowley, Nicole Kearney, Colleen Funkhouser, David Iggulden, Elisa Herrmann, and Kelli Trei.

And finally, I’d like to extend a personal thank you to our co-hosts, David Iggulden and Rich Wragg, for welcoming BHL partners for the 20th anniversary meeting. To my colleagues, Kelli Trei, Nicole Kearney, Bianca Crowley, Joel Richard, and Mike Lichtenberg – thank you for your tireless efforts this past year to think critically about BHL’s future beyond the challenging but necessary transition to a new operating structure. I look forward to the next phase of planning with our global consortium.

Colleen Funkhouser shares host appreciation gifts with annual meeting co-hosts Rich Wragg and David Iggulden. Photo credit: Nicole Kearney

BHL team members celebrate the end of the meeting. Left to right: Kelli Trei, Nicole Kearney, Colleen Funkhouser, Bianca Crowley, Joel Richard, and Mike Lichtenberg. Photo credit: Emily Benton

From April 7–11, 2025, the global Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) community gathered at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin for the BHL Annual Meeting. Hosted at one of Europe’s premier natural history museums, this year’s event brought together BHL Members, Affiliates and stakeholders for a week of strategic planning and collaboration.

Attendees of the BHL Annual Meeting gathered outside the Museum für Naturkunde.

Navigating Transition Amidst Change

BHL Annual Meetings are usually a time for joyous reunions and celebration of shared successes. This year, however, the meeting was shadowed by the recent announcement that BHL must secure alternative funding and find a new institutional host. In the weeks leading up to the Annual Meeting, the original agenda pivoted swiftly towards solution-building. While core elements like committee reports and the ever-popular #BHLDay remained, much of the program was reshaped to focus on navigating the transition.

A Week of Engagement and Collaboration

The week began with a guided tour of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin‘s digitization center and rare manuscripts collection. A highlight for many was a sneak peak of the Library’s digitisation and animation of 3D pop-up books, a beautiful illustration of blending heritage with technology. Following the tour, attendees gathered at Restaurant Ursprung (beneath the fabulous Dussmann KulturKaufhaus bookshop) to reconnect and share updates over local cuisine.

The tour of Berlin’s State Library Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. Photo: Nicole Kearney

Business Meetings and Strategic Planning

Formal business meetings commenced on April 8, with BHL Chair David Iggulden welcoming both in-person and virtual participants. Reports from the Chair, Program Manager, Collections Manager, Data Manager and Technical Team highlighted BHL’s progress over the past year, while discussions around strategic restructuring and sustainability set the foundation for critical transition planning. This was followed by updates from the Chairs of BHL’s various committees and working groups. Participants also engaged in workshops exploring how to future-proof BHL’s data infrastructure and navigate the technical scenarios involved in the upcoming shift from Smithsonian hosting.

BHL Chair, David Iggulden, opening the 2025 BHL Annual Meeting with the Chair’s Report: “Towards a new chapter for BHL.” Photo: Nicole Kearney

Between meetings, attendees were treated to behind-the-scenes tours of the Museum für Naturkunde’s Library, Archives and Taxonomy Workshop. While all the tours were fabulous, we were especially wowed by the passion and exceptional work of the Museum für Naturkunde’s taxidermists. It was abundantly clear why Museum für Naturkunde wins so many taxidermy championships!

The wonderful tour of the Museum für Naturkunde’s Taxidermy Workshop. Photo: Nicole Kearney

Democratizing Knowledge at the Swiss Embassy

One of the week’s standout events was the evening panel and reception at the Swiss Embassy, titled Democratizing Knowledge: The Role of Open Data in the Age of AI. The panel emphasized the critical importance of open access in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. BHL Program Manager Colleen Funkhouser and BHL Executive Committee Co-Secretary Elisa Herrmann (our host in Berlin) spoke as part of the expert panel, contributing to an important discussion on the global impacts of biodiversity data.

Colleen Funkhouser, BHL Program Manager, speaking at the Democratizing Knowledge event at the Swiss Embassy. Photo: Nicole Kearney

BHL Day 2025: Bridging Data and Nature

On April 9, the Museum für Naturkunde opened its doors for BHL Day 2025, a public symposium themed Bridging Data and Nature: Connecting Information, Technology, and Biodiversity. The event featured a lineup of speakers exploring how technology and open-access initiatives are transforming biodiversity research. Topics included data interoperability for enhanced global research collaboration, linked open data for connecting taxonomic literature with modern biodiversity platforms, and the role of digitized literature in supporting conservation efforts. A recording of the event is now available on the BHL YouTube channel.

Professor Roderic Page presenting his talk Future interface(s) for BHL at #BHLDay2025. Photo: Nicole Kearney

The symposium concluded with an evening reception in the Museum’s spectacular central atrium, surrounded by towering dinosaur skeletons and one of the world’s most famous fossils, Archaeopteryx lithographica. The breathtaking setting provided a fitting backdrop to reflect on BHL’s mission to preserve and democratize access to the world’s biodiversity literature.

Meeting participants enjoying the BHL Day reception with the dinosaurs. Photo: Nicole Kearney

Strategic Planning for a Sustainable Future

The final business meetings on April 10 focused heavily on stakeholder engagement, future funding models, and transition planning. Members and Affiliates discussed potential hosting scenarios and laid the groundwork for BHL’s Secretariat transition. Critical work began on drafting transition documents and communications, including the Public Statement announcing BHL’s need to transition from the Smithsonian, which was released the following week. The meeting concluded with a heartfelt recognition of partners and a special thanks to Elisa Herrmann and the Museum für Naturkunde for their wonderful hosting of this year’s event. As we closed, our fabulous hosts had one final surprise for us: “BHL Annual Meeting 2025 Berlin” spelled out in traditional Berliner donuts!

The delicious Berliner donuts provided by the Museum für Naturkunde. Photo: Nicole Kearney

Looking Ahead

As BHL advances towards its next chapter, the 2025 Annual Meeting served as a powerful reminder of our community’s collective commitment to open access, global collaboration, and the preservation of biodiversity literature. With transition planning now well underway, BHL is relying on its community and partners to shape a sustainable and resilient future. We look forward to continuing this momentum in the months ahead, supported by the strength of our community and the critical partnerships that make BHL’s mission possible.

BHL’s future is hopeful, but uncertain. BHL is committed to transparency during the transition. We will be sharing monthly updates here to keep our community informed. Subscribe to this blog to stay up to date. In the meantime:

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💡 Contact us with your ideas and support: A New Future for the Biodiversity Heritage Library

The Museum für Naturkunde’s beautiful Library. Photo: Nicole Kearney

The 2024 Biodiversity Heritage Library Annual Meeting saw BHL partners and interested parties returning to Chicago, Illinois, the location of many BHL gatherings over the years. This year’s meeting was also significant as it coincided with the dual emergence of Brood XIII of Periodical Cicadas (Magicicada) and Brood XIX elsewhere in Illinois and the Midwest.

BHL Annual Meeting attendees pose for a group photo at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Attendees were welcomed to Chicago by our co-hosts, The Field Museum of Natural History and the Chicago Botanic Garden. Throughout the week of 13 May to 17 May, attendees were treated to behind-the-scenes tours at both locations. The BHL Day 2024 Symposium, Year of the Cicada: Buzzing with 17 Years of Biodiversity Achievements, took advantage of the emergence of the Magicicada Brood XIII emergence and featured Magicicada expert, Dr. Gene Kritsky, as keynote speaker.

Meeting participants were invited to take part in the 2024 BHL Annual Meeting iNaturalist Bioblitz. Congratulations to Nicole Kearney of BHL Australia for topping the observed species list (88 species and 148 observations). I followed with 63 species and 288 — mostly Magicicada! — observations.

A very special treat at this annual meeting was a panel discussion sponsored by the Caxton Club, The Biodiversity Heritage Library, Seventeen Years of Grown From Its Chicago Roots.

BHL Business Meeting

For our first North American meeting since the 2019 BHL Annual Meeting in Ithaca, NY, 47 attendees participated (35 in-person and 12 virtually) from 29 BHL partners. For those who arrived on 13 May, there were a number of optional excursions (including an architectural river cruise of the Chicago River); later that evening, a well attended ice-breaker at Lou Malnati’s Pizza.

The next day, upon gathering at the Chicago Botanic Garden (hosted by Leora Siegel), BHL attendees were welcomed to the Garden by Dr. Kayri Havens (Chief Scientist and Negaunee Vice President of Science, Chicago Botanic Garden). The official meeting was called to order by David Iggulden, BHL Chair (Head of Data & Digital in the Library and Archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew). The Chair’s report, “Securing Our Future and Celebrating Our Past” gave a summary overview of Executive Committee activities over the past year as well as looking forward to the next.

David Iggulden presents the BHL Chair’s Report at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Photo by Colleen Funkhouser

David also announced the results of the 2024 Executive Committee Election. The 2024-2026 Executive Committee includes:

• Chair – David Iggulden, Head of Data & Digital in the Library and Archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• Vice-Chair – Kelli Trei, Biosciences Librarian at the Funk ACES Library, Associate Professor, University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Co-Secretary – Gretchen Rings, Museum Librarian and Head of Library Collections for the Marie Louise Rosenthal Library at the Field Museum of Natural History
• Co-Secretary – Elisa Herrmann, Scientific Head of Library Collections and Information Supply, Head of Department Discovery Services and Information Management, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

Secretariat Reports

BHL Program Manager Colleen Funkhouser’s report, “BHL in Transition: The BHL Program Manager’s Report,” summarized BHL’s financial status, user statistics, outreach activities, and outlined upcoming challenges with ongoing BHL transitions.

Bianca Crowley, BHL Digital Collections Manager, followed with her report, “BHL Collection Management: Refining Core Elements.” Bianca’s insightful report outlined BHL content growth and the role of BHL in the research life-cycle. She also discussed content curation and the role of the BHL Collections Committee.

I presented the Program Director’s Report, “Eras: The Biodiversity Heritage Library. Final BHL Program Director’s Report.” In this report, I outlined the deep history of biodiversity data held in BHL, the fragility of institutions, and continued importance of BHL’s standing on the pillars of Science (Data Generated by Science), Libraries and Literature (Data Born in Literature), and Technology (Data Delivered by Technology). Looking forward, the strongest pillar for BHL will be the Pillar of Science and important realignments must be done to work more closely with the science and informatics units of natural history museums, botanical gardens, and informatic research centers.

Martin Kalfatovic presents the Program Director’s Report at Chicago Botanic Garden. Photo by Colleen Funkhouser

BHL Lead Developer Mike Lichtenberg and BHL Technical Coordinator Joel Richard provided the “BHL Technical Team Report: 2023 Achievements and Current Work.”

BHL Data Manager JJ Dearborn delivered her report, “The Next Chapter: Transforming BHL to Address Global Challenges.” In addition to outlining her work as BHL Data Manager, JJ spoke to the challenges of liberating BHL data as well as the long term benefits to the global biodiversity community of mobilizing BHL data.

After lunch, attendees were welcomed to a number of tours of the Garden and facilities, including a Library and Rare Book tour, a cicada walk in the woods, Japanese Garden tour, Crescent Garden tour, Model Railroad Garden tour, and a private tram tour.

Meeting attendees visit The Lenhardt Library at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Photo by Martin R. Kalfatovic

Leora Siegel, Chicago Botanic Garden, shares a selection of rare books from The Lenhardt Library. Photo by Colleen Funkhouser

Matt Evans, Managing Ecologist of Woodlands at the Chicago Botanic Garden, led small groups on a walk through McDonald Woods. Photo by Colleen Funkhouser

Matt Evans and meeting attendees searched for emerging cicadas in McDonald Woods. Photo by Colleen Funkhouser

Committee and Working Group Reports

Reconvening the following day at The Field Museum (hosted by Gretchen Rings), the first half of the day was devoted to reporting out by various BHL Committees and Working Groups. Daniel Euphrat (Smithsonian Libraries and Archives) and Elizabeth McKinley (The Field Museum) presented the work of the Cataloging & Metadata Committee; Nicole Kearney (BHL Australia) on the work of the Persistent Identifier Working Group; and Siobhan Leachman (Wikimedian) on the BHL-Wiki Working Group.

BHL Retrospective and Museum Tours

The Executive Committee led the group through a sailboat themed retrospective to review how the consortium is working in light of leadership changes at many institutions and the review of BHL’s sustainability. The group shared their perspectives on The Wind Pushing Our Sails (things that are helping BHL succeed and make progress), The Anchors Holding Us Back (things that are slowing BHL down), The Rocks Ahead of Us (risks or potential pitfalls), and Our Ideal Destination (our ultimate goal or vision for BHL).

The day closed with tours of a small portion of The Field Museum collections, including Anthropology, Paleontology, Botany, and of course, the library.

Bill Simpson, Head of Geological Collections and Collections Manager, Fossil Vertebrates, shared items from the paleontology collection at the Field Museum. Photo by Colleen Funkhouser

Matt Von Konrat, Head of Botanical Collections and McCarter Collections Manager, Bryophytes and Pteridophytes, led us into the botanical collection. Photo by Colleen Funkhouser

Gretchen Rings, Museum Librarian and Head of Library Collections, shared a selection of rare books from the Marie Louise Rosenthal Library. Photo by Martin R. Kalfatovic

Caxton Club Panel Discussion: The Biodiversity Heritage Library, Seventeen Years of Growth From Its Chicago Roots

The evening of 15 May was devoted to a reception and talk held at the Union League Club and sponsored by the Caxton Club. The evening opened with a welcome from Sarah M. Pritchard (Caxton Club Chair and Dean Emerita of Libraries and Charles Deering McCormick University Librarian at Northwestern University) and an introduction by Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty (Smithsonian Libraries and Archives) which included a tribute to Dr. Nancy E. Gwinn, Past BHL Chair (Smithsonian Institution Libraries). The panel, The Biodiversity Heritage Library, Seventeen Years of Growth from Its Chicago Roots, included talks by myself, Gretchen Rings, and Leora Siegel.

The reception preceding the talks was generously sponsored by Jackie Vossler (Smithsonian Libraries and Archives Advisory Board Member and Past Chair, The Caxton Club).

Sarah M. Pritchard, Caxton Club Chair, welcomed us to the BHL Discussion Panel at the Union League Club. Photo by Martin R. Kalfatovic

BHL Business Meeting Final Day

The final business day was again convened at The Field Museum.

BHL Engagement Workshop

In light of a changing environment – which includes turnover in leadership and staff at BHL Partners, shifting priorities and funding, and new technologies to assess – the Secretariat hosted an Engagement Workshop to share new project management strategies to coordinate the work of the consortium in actively managing BHL. The group used a Team Norms activity to draft a working agreement for the BHL Consortium to foster collaboration and teamwork.

Open Discussion Session

Led by BHL Program Manager Colleen Funkhouser, major topics discussed included a discussion of potential Field book projects from around the consortium. Institutions with potential projects include the Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County; the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel; and BHL Australia.

There was also a discussion of the call for BHL internships funded by generous gifts in honor of BHL Past Chair, Constance Rinaldo. BHL Chair David Iggulden led an important and challenging discussion with input from many meeting participants around the topic of BHL Sustainability as BHL looks forward to 2025.

Closing Session

Chair David Iggulden closed the official business portion of the meeting with thanks to our generous co-hosts, Gretchen Rings and Leora Siegel, and a recognition of departed BHL staff and leaders.

Martin R. Kalfatovic (R) presented co-host Gretchen Rings (C) and Leora Siegel (L) with gifts of appreciation.

BHL Day 2024 Public Symposium: Year of the Cicada

After the close of the business meeting, The Field Museum hosted a public symposium, Year of the Cicada: Buzzing with 17 Years of Biodiversity Achievements, attended by more than 130 guests, in-person and online.

Dr. Gene Kritsky (Professor Emeritus of Biology at Mount St. Joseph University and Chief Science Officer at Center for IT Engagement) opened with a keynote, “A Tale of Two Broods previews the 2024 dual emergence of Broods XIII and XIX.” Kritsky, the leading authority on Magicicada, gave a general overview of Periodical Cicadas and then interesting observations about the current dual emergence. The last time these broods emerged together was 1803. Kritsky noted that Periodical cicadas are bugs of history, and understanding their biology and evolution has required the efforts of many entomologists over the past four centuries. Periodical cicadas are also bugs of climate: the evolution of their unique and lengthy life cycle was driven by the beginning of the last ice age, and the distribution of the broods was influenced by the retreat of the ice sheet. Even today, the timing of their adult emergence is dictated by our warming world.

The opening session was moderated by Leora Siegel (Senior Director, Lenhardt Library, Chicago Botanic Garden) and included Dr. Kayri Havens (Chief Scientist and Negaunee Vice President of Science, Chicago Botanic Garden) on “Managing Metacollections of Exceptional Species: Adapting Zoo Protocols for Better Botanic Garden Living Collection Management”; Dmitry Mozzherin (Assistant Research Scientist, Biodiversity Informatics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) on “Scientific Names Index: How To Perfect It?”. Dr. Roderic Page (BioStor and University of Glasgow) spoke on “Articles, Annotation, and AI”.

Anderson Feijó, Assistant Curator of Mammals, Field Museum, includes an acknowledgment for BHL in his publications. Photo by Colleen Funkhouser

The second session was moderated by Gretchen Rings (Museum Librarian & Head of Library Collections at the Gantz Family Collections Center, Field Museum) and included talks by Anderson Feijó (Assistant Curator of Mammals, Field Museum), “How Have Pikas Successfully Colonized the Tibetan Plateau?”; Maureen Turcatel (Collections Manager, Field Museum), “Diversity and Evolutionary History of Horse Flies”; Siobhan Leachman (Chair, BHL-Wiki Working Group) on “BHL and the Wikiverse”; and Nicole Kearney (Manager, BHL Australia and Chair of BHL Persistent Identifier Working Group) on “Unlocking Australia’s biodiversity: Celebrating 50 Australian BHL contributors.”

A light reception followed the symposium and gave attendees and guests the opportunity to bid all a farewell before our next gathering.

Optional Excursion to the Adler Planetarium

To round out the week of behind-the-scenes tours, our hosts organized a tour of the Adler Planetarium’s collection of scientific instruments, cultural artifacts, and rare books. Attendees were treated to a sky show of Chicago’s night sky and then set off to explore the rest of the museum.

A look behind the scenes at Adler Planetarium. Photo by Colleen Funkhouser

A Final Note

The 2024 BHL Annual Meeting marks my final BHL meeting as an official participant in BHL. Since 2006, I have participated in all but one of the official BHL leadership meetings (from their start as “organizational meetings,” to “institutional council meetings,” to “Member Meetings,” and then “Annual Meetings”). As I look forward to my new role as Managing Director of the IIIF-C, I will take with me the skills I learned from my work with BHL as well as memories of professional and personal friendships that grew over those years. The IIIF-C community and BHL form a neat Venn Diagram with many institutions participating in both. I also plan to remain active as a champion for biodiversity, both professionally and personally, and hope to cross paths with many in the BHL community in the coming years.

Originally scheduled for 2020, the BHL Annual Meeting finally made it to Paris after two years of virtual meetings and a break to hold the 2022 BHL Annual Meeting in conjunction with the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) and the Natural Sciences Collections Society (NatSCA) meetings in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The host for the 2023 meeting was the library of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN), led by Alice Lemaire, Clément Oury, and Gildas Illien. The meeting took place 17-21 April 2023 and included BHL business meetings, tours of library and museum sites, and a BHL symposium titled “Fostering Data Driven Natural Science through Open Digital Libraries”. In total, the meeting gathered 38 attendees (both in-person and virtually) from 22 BHL partners.

BHL Annual Meeting attendees gather in the Jardin des Plantes.

BHL Business Meeting

David Iggulden, BHL Chair (Head of Data & Digital in the Library and Archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) opened the meeting and presented his Chair’s report, “A Period of Change: But Also Building On Our Success.” David welcomed new BHL partners, Meise Botanic Garden and Dumbarton Oaks and gave a summary overview of Executive Committee activities over the past year.

David Iggulden presents the BHL Chair’s Report. Photo by: Martin R. Kalfatovic.

Secretariat Reports

BHL Program Manager Colleen Funkhouser’s report, “Relying On and Supporting Our BHL Community,” summarized BHL’s financial status, user statistics, outreach activities, and an update on our progress in implementing the 2020-2026 BHL Strategic Plan.

Bianca Crowley, BHL Digital Collections Manager, followed with her report, “BHL Collection Management as a Community of Practice.” Bianca’s insightful report detailed the work done to create the recently revised BHL Collection Development Policy and broadly discussed BHL’s position as a “community of practice.”

Joining the BHL Annual Meeting in person, BHL Lead Developer Mike Lichtenberg and BHL Technical Coordinator Joel Richard (joining virtually) provided the “BHL Technical Team Report: 2022 Review and Recap”.

Joining her first in-person BHL Annual Meeting, BHL Data Manager JJ Dearborn delivered her report, “BHL Data: Opportunities, Challenges, Next Steps.” In addition to outlining her work as BHL Data Manager, JJ spoke to the challenges of liberating BHL data as well as the long term benefits to the global biodiversity community of mobilizing BHL data.

Closing the reporting session, I presented “’Tools without Data are Useless’ or Data Born in Literature: 2023 BHL Program Director’s Report.” In this report, I outlined the deep history of biodiversity data held in BHL, the fragility of institutions, and continued importance of BHL’s standing on the pillars of Science (Data Generated by Science), Libraries and Literature (Data Born in Literature), and Technology (Data Delivered by Technology).

Martin Kalfatovic delivers the BHL Program Director Report. Photo by: Colleen Funkhouser.

Tour of the Room

The annual BHL partner “Tour of the Room” summarized partner responses to the question, “How can BHL demonstrate value, Return On Investment (ROI), or other metrics of value per your institution’s strategic objectives?” BHL Chair David Iggulden and Vice Chair Kelli Trei (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) hosted the discussion.

David Iggulden and Kelli Trei lead a discussion on the value of BHL among BHL partners. Photo by: Martin R. Kalfatovic.

Other Business Sessions

In a new feature of the BHL Annual Meeting, Committee Chairs Nicole Kearney (BHL Australia) and Suzanne Pilsk (Smithsonian Libraries and Archives) presented the committee reports of, respectively, the Persistent Identifier Working Group (PIWG) and the Cataloging and Metadata Committee.

Nicole Kearney shares highlights from the Persistent Identifier Working Group (PIWG). Photo by: Martin R. Kalfatovic.

Executive Session

The Executive Committee, Secretariat, and Members Council (representatives from BHL Member institutions) held a closed executive session to discuss sustainability planning for BHL and other governance topics, such as proposed Bylaws changes.

Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty (Director, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives) presented on sustainability planning for BHL. BHL is considering appointing a consultant to assess BHL and create a sustainability plan in preparation for BHL’s 20th anniversary in 2026.

BHL Code of Conduct

The Executive Committee, led by Vice Chair Kelli Trei, presented a draft proposal for a BHL Code of Conduct. After input from partners, the draft Code will be revised and implemented later in 2023.

Supplemental Work Projects

Following on work done over the past few years, BHL Chair David Iggulden presented the results of the discussions to return additional value to BHL Members through funding Supplemental Work Projects. The main takeaway was to fund collaborative project(s) with benefit to everyone in BHL as a whole rather than providing funds that benefit individual partners. The funding model and implementation of the projects will take place during the remainder of 2023.

Partner Call Methodology and Timing

Recognizing that the monthly BHL Partner calls, implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, have seen decreased attendance over the past year, the Executive Committee proposed alternatives that will facilitate multiple time zones and encourage engagement from across the consortium as we continue to deliver on our BHL Strategic Plan.

BHL Symposium

On 19 April, the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle hosted the BHL Day 2023 symposium in the auditorium of the Grande Galerie de l’Évolution. The symposium, “Fostering Data Driven Natural Science through Open Digital Libraries” was well attended with about 75 participants.

Recent years have witnessed a spectacular increase of data available for research, through either digital conversion or in born digital form, vastly increasing outcomes based on data driven science. In natural sciences, especially in taxonomy and systematics, this new data forward context has allowed for the emergence of the concept of “digital specimen”, where a digital representation of a physical specimen is linked to additional information stored in external databases.

Documents from digital libraries, particularly the Biodiversity Heritage Library, rank among the most relevant data for taxonomy and systematics. This literature includes key data points such as first descriptions, occurrences, specimen information, morphology, illustrations, and other key information.

However, digital libraries with these data are often silos or are unable to provide data under FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles. Opening up these silos and building bridges between platforms necessitates various efforts, including the provision of persistent identifiers, structured metadata, and access via automated protocols and APIs.

These efforts towards interoperability foster the creation of important biodiversity networks, from the local (individual institutions) through national and international networks, bringing together librarians, researchers, and computer scientists to increase access to data that supports a thriving and sustainable planet.

The symposium was hosted by Gildas Illien, General Director of Collections, MNHN, and divided into two sessions chaired by Alice Lemaire, Director, MNHN Libraries, and Clément Oury, Deputy-Director, MNHN Libraries.

The first session, Providing Heritage Literature for Natural Sciences, included four talks:

The role of heritage literature in taxonomic research
Patrice Pruvost, Curator of the Fish Collection, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle

BIOfid’s efforts to foster data-driven biodiversity research in Central Europe
Gerwin Kasperek, Curator of the Biology Collection, University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg

Enhancing the Museum Data Ecosystem: Mining Research Publications for Museum Specimens
Richard Naples, Data Manager, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

Building bridges between heterogeneous data silos : towards a MNHN datahub
Chloé Besombes, Head of Acquisition and Treatment Service, Libraries of the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle
Francis Clément, Deputy Director, Digital Innovation and IT, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle
Cécile Callou, Director, UAR BBEES Muséum national d’histoire naturelle

Gerwin Kasperek presents on mobilising biodiversity data at BHL Day 2023. Photo by: Colleen Funkhouser.

Chloé Besombes, Francis Clément, and Cécile Callou present on the planned MNHN DataHub. Photo by: Colleen Funkhouser.

The second session, Past and Present Scientific Publications in a Network of Biodiversity Data, included the following talks:

Scientific publications in the biodiversity ecosystem: the BiCIKL project
Marianne Salaün, Desk Editor, Scientific Publications, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle

Towards a more visible, more connected, and more useful BHL
Roderic Page, Professor of Taxonomy (Evolution & Diversity), University of Glasgow

Echinopscis – an extensible notebook for open science on specimens
Nicky Nicolson, Senior Research Leader, Biodiversity Informatics, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

A toolbox for digital library investigation: developing data analysis of natural history documents
Guillaume Sapriel, Associate Professor, Versailles St-Quentin University (Paris-Saclay)
Marie Carlin, Coordinator for the BnF Datalab, Bibliothèque nationale de France

Marianne Salaün shares the three realms of biodiversity data during her talk on the BiCIKL project. Photo by: Colleen Funkhouser.

Nicky Nicolson shares key points in the history of making biodiversity data more accessible. Photo by: Colleen Funkhouser.

The symposium concluded with a tribute to BHL Immediate Past Chair, Constance Rinaldo, where we were joined by her husband, Gary Nielsen, son Tristan, and his wife Charlotte.

Martin Kalfatovic honored Connie Rinaldo’s years of dedication to BHL with a memory book shared with her family. Photo by: Colleen Funkhouser.

Special Tours and iNaturalist Bioblitz

Musée de l’Homme and Library

Before the business meetings got underway, attendees had the opportunity to participate in an excursion to the 16e arrondissement and a visit to the Musée de l’Homme. The visit started with a tour of the museum’s Yvonne Oddon library led by librarian, Nathalie Charrier-Arrighi. BHL guests were treated to a special visit to the roof of the museum which presented a gorgeous view of the Seine and Eiffel Tower. Following the library tour and rooftop visit, our group was treated to a specialized tour of the museum.

Thank you to the staff of the Yvonne Oddon library – Eric Fileyssant, Nathalie Charrier-Arrighi, and Elise Edy. Photo by: Martin R. Kalfatovic.

BHL attendees enjoying a unique view of Paris from the roof of the Musée de l’Homme. Photo by: Alice Lemaire.

Tour of the Central Library, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle

Before starting the business portion of the meeting, our hosts organized a tour of the Central Library and its amazing spaces and collections, including the extensive vellum collection and the Cabinet de curiosité de Joseph Bonnier de la Mosson. This was a unique opportunity to dive into the extensive history and collections of one of our BHL Member libraries and to meet a number of MNHN colleagues.

One section of specimens housed in the Cabinet de curiosité de Joseph Bonnier de la Mosson, located on the main floor of the Central Library of MNHN. Photo by: Colleen Funkhouser.

Clément Oury shares a selection of rare books and prints from the MNHN libraries collections relevant to BHL. Photo by: Colleen Funkhouser.

A map of the Jardin des Plantes and a selection of rare books on display in the vellum collection. Photo by: Colleen Funkhouser.

Tours of the Zoothèque and Herbarium, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle

Throughout the week, our hosts organized additional tours of some of the 70 million specimens held by MNHN, including vertebrate collections in the underground Zoothèque and selections from the Herbarium. Our collection guides highlighted the close relation of the literature in BHL and the specimens held by the museum.

Herbarium staff shared a selection of specimen from the vast collection of nearly 6 million herbarium specimen. Photo by: Martin R. Kalfatovic.

A view into the herbarium collection housed at the national herbarium. Photo by: Martin R. Kalfatovic.

Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF Richelieu)

After the close of the meetings, BHL participants had the opportunity for a specialized tour of the BnF Richelieu, one of five facilities of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The BnF Richelieu specializes in Performing arts, Maps and plans, Prints and photography, Manuscripts, Coins, medals and antiques, and Music. Additionally, it also hosts the Oval Room, a public library space for all.

Our guides took us to the various reading rooms (public and research library), some of the collections areas, the lovely garden, and also the BnF museum co-located with the library facilities.

A view of the Library of the National Institute for Art History (INHA Library), also known as the Labrouste Room. Photo by: Martin R. Kalfatovic.

iNaturalist Bioblitz

We also invited the global BHL community to participate in a 2023 BHL Annual Meeting Bioblitz during the week of 15-22 April 2023. Over the course of the week, observers logged 151 observations and 83 species. The top species was Corvus corone (Carrion Crow) with 11 observations.

BHL Partner Recognition, and a Farewell

At the close of the 2023 BHL Annual meeting, we took time to recognize those who have worked with BHL over the years and have since moved on to new adventures. Those recognized included:

• Diana Duncan, Technical Services Librarian, Gantz Family Collections Center at the Field Museum;
• Susan Lynch, Systems, Digitization & Web Services Librarian, New York Botanical Garden;
• Gil Taylor, Head of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Library, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives;
• Diane Shaw, Special Collections Cataloger, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives;
• Susan Braxton, Prairie Research Institute Librarian, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;
• Susan Fraser, Thomas J. Hubbard Vice President and Director of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library at The New York Botanical Garden; and
• Judy Warnement, Director of the Harvard University Botany Libraries.

We were lucky to be joined in person by Susan Fraser (Founding Member, BHL Secretary from 2011-2015) and Judy Warnement (Founding Member). Susan and Judy were slated to attend the planned 2020 meeting in Paris but retired in the interim period.

Martin Kalfatovic presents Susan Fraser with a photo album of her many contributions to BHL over the years.

Judy Warnement also received a belated farewell and BHL photo album from Martin Kalfatovic.

We also bid adieu to Anne-Lise Fourie (BHL Africa/South African National Biodiversity Institute). Anne-Lise will be retiring from SANBI later in 2023 and this was her last meeting as BHL Affiliate representative from BHL Africa. Her contributions to BHL were recognized. We do hope to see her again, however, at future BHL meetings.

Closing

As a last piece of business, the location of the 2024 BHL Annual meeting was revealed. The Executive Committee chose Chicago, United States, as the host city. The hosting institutions will be The Field Museum and the Chicago Botanic Garden. Thank you to Gretchen Rings (Field Museum) and Leora Siegel (Chicago Botanic Garden) for putting forward the Windy City as our next meeting space.

David Iggulden and Gretchen Rings announce the location of the 2024 BHL Annual Meeting: Chicago, Illinois! Photo by: Martin R. Kalfatovic.

In closing the meeting, BHL Chair David Iggulden thanked our local hosts, Alice Lemaire (Director, MNHN Libraries) and Clément Oury (Deputy Director, MNHN Libraries) and all their staff who participated in the planning and execution of this most successful meeting.

Thank you to Alice Lemaire, Clément Oury, and their team for hosting us for the week.

For the first time, the Biodiversity Heritage Library held its annual meeting in conjunction with a major biodiversity/natural sciences organization. In June 2022, BHL joined with the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) and the Natural Sciences Collections Society (NatSCA) to host our meetings in Edinburgh, Scotland. Recognizing that the global pandemic had forced so many meetings to turn to virtual, we were fortunate to have this 2022 meeting as a hybrid virtual/in-person event.

As part of the joint meeting, BHL organized two symposia that took the place of the usual “BHL Day” events. The first, organized by myself and BHL Chair Constance Rinaldo, “Liberating Natural History Collections Data in Biodiversity Literature” brought together colleagues from across the biodiversity spectrum to show the importance of BHL in the larger sphere of biodiversity. Speakers at the symposium were:

• Donat Agosti: Nothing in (taxonomic) publishing makes sense except in the light of treatments 
• Laurence Benichou: All the cool stuff a taxonomic journal can (should?) showcase through semantic enhancement 
• Lyubomir Penev: Collection and specimen data life cycle completed: The case of Pensoft’s journals and OpenBiodiv Knowledge Graph
• Gildas Illien: A new romance between taxonomic literature and specimen data? News from Paris 
• Andrea Toomer: Using specimen citations to show the impact of natural history collections: metrics, machine learning, and manual annotation 
• Nicky Nicolson: Presenting botanical type citation data from the International Plant Names Index as material citations 

Laurence Benichou (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle) presents on behalf of Gildas Illien at SPNHC 2022. Photo by: Colleen Funkhouser

The second BHL symposium, organized by BHL Vice-Chair David Iggulden and Secretary Kelli Trei, “Reflections on the Biodiversity Heritage Library: Value in Collections and Collaboration”, focused on presentations by BHL staff and discussed projects and programs within BHL. Speakers at the symposium were:

• Diane Rielinger & Joseph deVeer, Harvard University: The Biodiversity Heritage Library as a platform for connecting natural history materials 
• Elisa Herrmann, Museum für Naturkunde: Better publications for better research 
• Nicole Kearney, BHL Australia: Project #RetroPIDs: BHL’s mission to unlock the world’s biodiversity literature 

David Iggulden (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) chairs the BHL Partners symposium at SPNHC 2022. Photo by: Colleen Funkhouser

BHL Business Meeting

To provide the best virtual experience for a globally dispersed audience, the Executive Committee and Secretariat’s business meeting reports were provided via pre-recorded presentations followed by a live question and answer period. In all, 27 representatives and staff from BHL partner institutions joined the business and partner sessions of the meeting.

BHL representatives at the 2022 BHL Annual Meeting, hosted in conjunction with the SPNHC 2022 conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by: Martin R. Kalfatovic.

Secretariat Reports

Martin R. Kalfatovic (BHL Program Director and Associate Director, Digital Programs and Initiatives Division at Smithsonian Libraries and Archives) opened the meeting with a report covering BHL’s 2021 program activities and anticipated projects in 2022-23 (Program Director’s Report: The Biodiversity Heritage Library).

BHL Program Manager Colleen Funkhouser attended her first in-person BHL Annual Meeting and provided an overview of BHL operations for the past year. Her Program Manager’s report, (2021: Another Year of Change), provided insight into the BHL’s finances and changes to our outreach activities. Bianca Crowley (BHL Digital Collections Manager) provided a BHL Collection Management update (BHL Collection Management: Knowledge as Water). In her first meeting as a member of the Secretariat, JJ Dearborn (BHL Data Manager) presented a vision for the expansion of BHL as a biodiversity data source (Mobilizing BHL’s Data For Our Planet).

Also presenting was Joel Richard (BHL Technical Coordinator and Head of Web Services & IT at Smithsonian Libraries and Archives), who provided an overview of the BHL Tech Team’s work (Technical Priorities: 2021/2022 Review) and presented the goals of the 2022 BHL Technical Priorities as determined by the BHL Executive Committee. Mike Lichtenberg, BHL’s Developer, also participated in the meeting along with Tech Team members, Susan Lynch (Systems, Digitization & Web Services Librarian, The New York Botanical Garden), Nicole Kearney (Manager, BHL Australia), and Elisa Herrmann (Head of Department Discovery Services and Information Management, Museum für Naturkunde).

Following the Secretariat Reports, Constance Rinaldo (Chair of the Executive Committee of the BHL Members’ Council and former Librarian of the Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University) set the stage for our upcoming discussions with her presentation on the state of the BHL in 2022 (Looking Forward, Looking Back).

BHL Executive Committee Election

Members of the 2022-2024 Executive Committee of the BHL Members’ Council. Chair: David Iggulden (Library, Art & Archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew); Vice-Chair: Kelli Trei (Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign); Co-Secretaries: Elisa Herrmann (Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, Museum für Naturkunde) and Kevin Merriman (Marx Science and Social Science Library, Yale University Library); and Immediate Past Chair: Constance Rinaldo (Retired from the Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University)

This year was an election year for the BHL Executive Committee. David Iggulden (Library, Art & Archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) was elected as Chair. Kelli Trei (Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) was elected as Vice-Chair. For the first time, BHL elected Co-Secretaries, Elisa Herrmann (Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, Museum für Naturkunde) and Kevin Merriman (Marx Science and Social Science Library, Yale University Library). You can learn more about the Executive Committee members of the BHL Members’ Council for the 2022-2024 term on the BHL About site.

BHL Business Sessions

Working across time zones in a hybrid environment was a challenge. We were not able to get the full participation we normally see at a BHL Annual meeting, however, over the course of two days, BHL partners discussed a number of issues. The major topics were:

Revisions to Collection Development Policy (Led by Bianca Crowley)

Over the past year, BHL’s Collections Committee has been reviewing and revising BHL’s Collection Development Policy. This work is a significant part of Goal 1 (Relevant Content) of BHL’s Strategic Plan. Bianca shared the Committee’s work in progress, reviewing how the sea change in the cultural and social emphasis on diversity and inclusion, as well as the escalation of the climate and biodiversity crises, has impacted the revision of the policy.

What does Strategic Goal 3 (User Engagement) look like going forward? (Led by David Iggulden and Kelli Trei)

With the departure of BHL’s Outreach and Communication Manager in 2021, many of BHL’s outreach activities were placed on hiatus, including a number of tasks associated with Goal 3 (User Engagement) of BHL’s Strategic Plan. David Iggulden and Kelli Trei led BHL partners in a discussion of how we can reimagine user engagement within the new capacity of BHL partners and staff. Feedback from this discussion will help inform a revision of Goal 3.

Replacement of Pan-BHL Scanning Funds (Led by Colleen Funkhouser)

With workflows, staffing, and digitization priorities impacted by the global pandemic over the past several years, BHL took the opportunity to reassess our partners’ priorities for a pan-BHL funding pool that could support small projects across the consortium. This brainstorming session garnered feedback on potential projects that could facilitate increased ingest of priority content into the BHL collection.

Review of Proposed Bylaws Revisions (Led by Kelli Trei)

Over the past year, the BHL Executive Committee and Secretariat worked on a number of changes to the BHL Bylaws. Many of these were procedural or wording changes. A review of these proposals was conducted via video conference earlier in the year and again at the Annual Meeting. A final vote by Members on the proposed changes will occur later in July.

We also had the opportunity to recognize the service to BHL by partner representatives who have retired or moved on to new positions.

Other Meetings

While in Edinburgh, there were a few opportunities for additional side meetings.

Persistent Identifiers Working Group. I joined Nicole Kearney, Connie Rinaldo, and Colleen Funkhouser in a meeting with Rod Page to discuss some of the work of the Persistent Identifiers Working Group (#RetroPIDS) for some interesting discussions about the next steps for the group.

From left to right: Martin R. Kalfatovic, Constance Rinaldo, Colleen Funkhouser, Rod Page, and Nicole Kearney. Photo by: Martin R. Kalfatovic

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. David Iggulden and I also had the opportunity to meet with Lorna Mitchell, librarian at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh for a good discussion about library services and the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Lorna also gave us a wonderful tour of the library places and the rare book collection.

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Science Buildings. Photo by: Martin R. Kalfatovic.

Natural History Museum. Returning to London, David Iggulden and I were able to meet with Lisa Cardy, Acting Head of Library and Archives at the Natural History Museum (NHM). It was a great opportunity to catch up with Lisa and learn more about the current activities of the library and archives at NHM. While at the museum, David and I took the chance to see the recently returned Dippy the Diplodocus who long greeted us at BHL meetings at the museum.

Martin R. Kalfatovic and David Iggulden with Dippy the Diplodocus at the Natural History Museum in London. Photo by: Martin R. Kalfatovic.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Also during my London stay, I was able to again meet with David Iggulden at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBGK). In addition to David, Fiona Ainsworth (Head of Library & Archives) and Elizabeth Gardner (Deputy Director of Science, Operations) had a wide-ranging discussion about BHL, past, present, and future.

From left to right: Elizabeth Gardner, Fiona Ainsworth, and David Iggulden at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Photo by: Martin R. Kalfatovic.

Thanks and the 2023 BHL Annual Meeting

While many BHL partners were able to travel to the 2022 BHL Annual Meeting, conducting a hybrid meeting was important in this transition period. Thank you to all participants, in-person and virtual for their time in making this a successful meeting. Many thanks also to the organizing committee at SPNHC: Robert Cubey, Suzanne Cubey, Nick Fraser, Elspeth Haston, Sankurie Pie, Chanté St Clair Inglis, and Anna Starkey. I also want to thank the BHL Executive Committee and Secretariat staff for their support in making the meeting work.

Looking forward to the 2023 BHL Annual Meeting, we are happy to announce that it is planned to take place in Paris, France, and will be hosted by the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN).

Thanks again to all who participated in our public and business meetings. We look forward to next year’s meeting.

Business Meeting Reports:

• Chair’s Report (Constance Rinaldo)
• Program Director’s Report (Martin Kalfatovic)
• Program Manager’s Report (Colleen Funkhouser)
• Digital Collections Manager’s Report (Bianca Crowley)
• Data Manager’s Report (JJ Dearborn)
• Technical Coordinator’s Report (Joel Richard)
• Tour of the Room
• Recognition of Partner Representatives

Group “Zoom” photo of attendees at the virtual 2021 BHL Annual Meeting.

Like many organizations around the world, the Biodiversity Heritage Library was compelled, for the second year in a row, to move the 2021 BHL Annual Meeting to a virtual environment. In consultation with our prospective 2021 host, the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle in Paris, the BHL Executive Committee again made the difficult, yet necessary, decision to move to a virtual meeting, but one that would be much enhanced from 2020 with a goal of trying to recreate the interaction and programmatic content of our in-person meetings.

BHL Day 2021 and Closing Event

Like many of our previous in-person events, the annual meeting this year included a public, BHL Day 2021. The event, themed Reflections in Crises, featured an opening keynote, “Biodiversity at a Tipping Point”, by Ian Owens (Deputy Director, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution). BHL partners spoke on the topic of Finding Opportunities During a Global Pandemic. The day ended with a closing keynote by Lidia Ponce de la Vega (Doctoral Candidate (ABD) and DH Course Lecturer, McGill University), “Decolonizing Strategies for an Equitable Biodiversity Heritage Library.” Event sessions were moderated by Constance Rinaldo (Chair, Executive Committee of the BHL Members’ Council), Gildas Illien (General Director of Collections at Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)), and Bianca Crowley (BHL Digital Collections Manager). BHL Day 2021 was our best attended event to date with 187 attendees. See details about the event here. Recordings of the event sessions are available on the BHL YouTube channel.

Dr. Ian Owens (left; Deputy Director, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution) presented the Opening Keynote during the virtual BHL Day 2021. The session was moderated by Constance Rinaldo (right; Chair of the Executive Committee of the BHL Members’ Council).

Representatives from five BHL partner institutions presented during the Partner Reflection Panel at the virtual BHL Day 2021. The session was moderated by Gildas Illien (top left; General Director of Collections at Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)). Participants included (from top to bottom, left to right): Alice Lemaire (Director of Libraries and Documentation, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN)); Elisa Herrmann, M.A. LIS (Head of Department Discovery Services and Information Management, Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science); Laurence Bénichou (Head of Museum Science Press, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN)); Tom Baione (Harold Boeschenstein Director, American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) Library); Jacqueline E. Chapman (Head, Digital Library and Digitization, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives); Jane Smith (Outgoing Head of Library and Archives, Natural History Museum, London (NHM)).

Lidia Ponce de la Vega (left; McGill University, Doctoral Candidate (ABD) and DH Course Lecturer) presented the Closing Keynote during the virtual BHL Day 2021. The session included an introduction by Constance Rinaldo (Chair of the Executive Committee of the BHL Members’ Council) and was moderated by Bianca Crowley (right; BHL Digital Collections Manager).

A special closing event, Notes from Nature: The Biodiversity Heritage Collections, was organized by our BHL Members, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN) and National Library Singapore, in partnership with BHL. See details about the event here. Recordings of the event presentations by Tan Huism (Senior Director, National Library Singapore) and Clément Oury (Head of Conservation, Restauration and Digitization Service, MNHN Library) are available on the National Library Singapore YouTube channel.

Ms. Tan Huism (Senior Director, National Library Singapore) presented on the BHL collections in Singapore and spotlighted the new Human x Nature exhibition at National Library during the “Notes from Nature: The Biodiversity Heritage Collections” event, a special closing session presented as part of the 2021 BHL Annual Meeting.

Dr. Clément Oury (Head of Conservation, Restauration and Digitization Service, MNHN Library) discussed the history of French naturalists in Singapore as well as previous partnerships between France and Singapore during the “Notes from Nature: The Biodiversity Heritage Collections” event, a special closing session presented as part of the 2021 BHL Annual Meeting.

BHL Business Meeting

To provide the best virtual experience for a globally dispersed audience, the Executive Committee and Secretariat’s business meeting reports were provided via pre-recorded presentations followed by a live question and answer period. In all, 43 representatives from BHL partner institutions joined the business and partner sessions of the meeting.

The meeting opened with a presentation by Constance Rinaldo (Chair of the Executive Committee of the BHL Members’ Council and former Librarian of the Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University) on the state of the BHL as we enter 2021 (Transitions and Collective Resiliency: BHL 2020-2021). As Constance noted in her opening remarks: “By leveraging BHL strengths, we are maintaining the resilience inherent in BHL’s virtual global presence and interconnectivity … this collective resilience is key to the strength of our community. It is the strength of our BHL community that keeps us nimble and valued.”

Secretariat Reports

Martin R. Kalfatovic (BHL Program Director and Associate Director, Digital Programs and Initiatives Division at Smithsonian Libraries and Archives) followed with a report covering BHL’s 2020 program activities, a financial update, and anticipated projects in 2021-22 (Biheli quīndecim: BHL@15).

Though BHL Program Manager Colleen Funkhouser joined BHL right before the 2020 meeting, this was Colleen’s first full meeting. Her Program Manager’s report, Program Manager’s Report: An Eventful First Year, provided insight into the BHL’s finances and other related activities. Bianca Crowley (BHL Digital Collections Manager) and Grace Costantino (BHL Outreach and Communication Manager) provided respectively a BHL Collection Management update (BHL Collection Management: Diving Deeper into a Sea of Content) and a BHL Outreach update (BHL Outreach: Looking Back at 2020).

Also presenting was Joel Richard (BHL Technical Coordinator and Head of Web Services & IT at Smithsonian Libraries and Archives), who provided an overview of the BHL Tech Team’s work (2021 Technical Priorities) and presented the goals of the 2021 BHL Technical Priorities as determined by the BHL Executive Committee in December 2020. Mike Lichtenberg, BHL’s Developer, also participated in the meeting along with Tech Team members, Susan Lynch (Systems, Digitization & Web Services Librarian, The New York Botanical Garden), Nicole Kearney (Manager, BHL Australia), and Elisa Herrmann (Head of Department Discovery Services and Information Management, Museum für Naturkunde).

BHL Executive Committee Election

Members of the 2021-2023 Executive Committee of the BHL Members’ Council. Chair: Constance Rinaldo (Retired from the Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University); Vice-Chair: David Iggulden (Library, Art & Archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew); Secretary: Kelli Trei (Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

This year was an election year for the BHL Executive Committee. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the election was modified to allow Member representatives to vote to continue Constance Rinaldo for one additional year as Chair, as well as electing a Vice-Chair and Secretary. The vote to continue Constance Rinaldo as Chair was approved; David Iggulden (Library, Art & Archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) was elected as Vice-Chair and Kelli Trei (Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) was elected as Secretary. You can learn more about the Executive Committee members of the BHL Members’ Council for the 2021-2023 term on the BHL About site.

Tour of the Room: Top Lessons Learned from 2020

To engage our partners in the vision and future of BHL, we again held a tour of the room. Partners were given two questions: “What was your institution’s top lesson learned from 2020 that is most relevant for BHL?” and “How has your thinking about BHL changed in response to the events of the past year?” Written responses were requested ahead of the meeting and a number of participants shared their thoughts live at the meeting. All responses to the Tour of the Room are available to review.

Partner Session

Over the course of 2020, many BHL associated staff worked on finalizing the implementation document for the 2020-2025 BHL Strategic Plan. Leaders from each of the five goals gave brief presentations on their elements of the implementation plan. The partners also had a discussion around Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Inclusion (DEAI) in relation to BHL collections and related activities.

Thanks and the 2022 BHL Annual Meeting

While we were not able to travel to Paris this year or the last, the BHL Executive Committee and Secretariat would like to note with much appreciation the excellent planning put in by our colleagues at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN), Gildas Illien (General Director of Collections at Muséum national d’histoire naturelle) and his staff, particularly Clément Oury (Head of Conservation, Restauration and Digitization Service, MNHN Library) and Alice Lemaire (Director of Libraries and Documentation, MNHN), in our planning for the virtual 2021 meeting.

We also had the opportunity to recognize the service to BHL by partner representatives who have retired or moved on to new positions.

Looking forward to 2022, the BHL Annual meeting will be held in conjunction with the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC). BHL will coordinate with SPNHC for public programs as the meeting’s international partner, alongside the meeting’s national partner, the NatSCA (Natural Sciences Collections Association). Stay tuned for more details on the June 2022 meeting.

Thanks again to all who participated in our public and business meetings. We look forward to our next year’s meeting.

Business Meeting Reports: Links to the PPTs

• • Chair’s Report (Constance Rinaldo)
  • Program Director’s Report (Martin Kalfatovic)
  • Program Manager’s Report (Colleen Funkhouser)
  • Digital Collections Manager’s Report (Bianca Crowley)
  • Outreach and Communication Manager’s Report (Grace Costantino)
  • BHL Technical Coordinator’s Report (Joel Richard)
  • Tour of the Room
  • Recognition of Partner Representatives

Background image in graphic: Rhopalocera Malayana: a description of the Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula. By William Lucas Distant (1845-1922). Illustrations by Horace Knight (1857-1920). Collection of National Library, Singapore.

Join us for a special closing event presented as part of the 2021 BHL Annual Meeting!

Notes from Nature: The Biodiversity Heritage Collections
Date and Time: Friday, 16 April 2021 @ 1130-1230 UTC
Location: Online (via Zoom webinar)

Discover the natural world through a vast collection of biodiversity knowledge online. Find out how Singapore and France have worked together across boundaries to advance biodiversity literature, digitisation and public outreach efforts.

This discussion is organised by the National Library Singapore and Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, France in partnership with the Biodiversity Heritage Library, the world’s largest open access online repository of biodiversity knowledge.

Presenters:
Ms Tan Huism, Senior Director, National Library, Singapore
Dr Clément Oury, Head of Conservation, Restauration and Digitization Service, Library of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle

This session will be chaired by Ms Constance Rinaldo, Chair of the Biodiversity Heritage Library Executive Committee.

Register today!

In addition to this special closing event on 16 April, we hope you’ll also join us for BHL Day 2021: Reflections in Crises on 14 April (1200-1700 UTC), another virtual, public event offered as part of the 2021 BHL Annual Meeting.

Learn more and register for BHL Day 2021.