Biodiversity Heritage Library - Program news and collection highlights from BHL
Blog Reel, Campaigns, Featured Books, Page Frights

Arachnophobes Beware! The Birth of Spider Nomenclature Just in Time for Halloween!

Arachnophobia (the fear of spiders and other arachnids) is one of the most prevalent phobias in the world, and some estimates suggest that over 30.5% of people in the United States alone have a fear of arachnids (Health Research Funding 2014).

Given the pervasiveness of this phobia, we thought it only appropriate to spend some time on the subject of spiders as part of our Page Frights celebration. Being the science-focused organization that we are, we decided to look at the topic of arachnids from a taxonomic point of view.

The founding text on spider nomenclature is Svenska Spindlar. It was published in 1757 by Carl Clerck, a member of the Swedish nobility. If you’re familiar with the history of taxonomy, you may notice something interesting about the date of this publication. The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature considers Carl Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae, published in 1758, to be the starting point of zoological nomenclature. How then could a book published in 1757 be considered the starting point of spider nomenclature?

Leslie Overstreet, Curator of Natural History Rare Books at the Smithsonian Libraries (who recently digitized this title for BHL), helped shed some light on the situation.

Clerck became a friend and correspondent of Linnaeus’ after attending Uppsala University, where Linnaeus had received most of his own higher education and served as a professor beginning in 1741. In 1753, Linnaeus applied his binomial system for botanical names within Species Plantarum. When Clerck went to publish his descriptions of the large number of Swedish spiders that he had collected and studied, he did so following Linnaeus’ binomial system. As Linnaeus would not publish his own foundational text on zoological nomenclature until 1758, Clerck’s spiders became the first animals in modern zoology to receive valid scientific names according to the Linnaean system.

Clerck’s Svenska Spindlar describes and illustrates 70 species and includes 6 hand-colored plates containing 89 figures. Artists for the work include Eric Borg and L. Gottman, and the plates were engraved by Carl Bergquist. The text is printed in both Swedish and Latin, and for each species, Clerck uses the single generic name Araneus followed by a specific, one-word name (constituting the species name).  Clerck then provides detailed information about each species, from the dates that he collected his specimens to descriptions of anatomical features and differences between sexes.

Clerck also restricted his use of the term “spider” to those species possessing eight eyes and separated prosoma and opisthosoma. As such, he, unlike many previous authors, excluded Opiliones (harvestmen) and other arachnids from his treatment of the subject.

The International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature recognizes Clerck’s names as having precedence over any varieties that may have been proposed by Linnaeus, and as such the names in Svenska Spindlar have the unique distinction of being considered valid despite having been published a year before Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae. For example, while Linnaeus used the generic name Aranea, Clerck’s Araneus is considered the valid generic name.

In 1793, the first English translation of Clerck’s Svenska Spindlar appeared under the title Aranei, or, A natural history of spiders, by Thomas Martyn. Martyn supplemented the text with additional illustrations originally published in Eleazar Albin’s Natural history of spiders (1736).

So, as you gear up for Halloween this weekend, take a moment to look through the book that started it all when it comes to spider nomenclature. If you’re one of those 30.5% of U.S. people with arachnophobia, you’re sure to consider it a true Page Frights experience!

Special thanks to Leslie Overstreet, Curator of Natural History Rare Books at Smithsonian Libraries, for providing information about this title for this post.

Reference

Health Research Funding. 2014. “7 Uncommon Arachnophobia Statistics.” September 22. Accessed October 25, 2016. http://healthresearchfunding.org/7-arachnophobia-statistics/.

October 27, 2016by michelle.underhill
Blog Reel, User Stories

BHL: Continuing to Inspire a Love of Natural History

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. They are able to accumulate glycols in their blood (i.e., antifreeze), which allows their tissues to remain unfrozen at temperatures well below freezing. And spiders aren’t the only critters capable of this – many invertebrates also possess this ability.

So, through a combination of ingenious adaptations, spiders are able deal with the cold of winter. The process isn’t perfect, of course. Spiders are not freeze tolerant, and their tissues cannot survive the process of freezing. However, their adaptations still give them much better odds than they would have otherwise.

Fascinating information like this can be found for a variety of arthropods on Arthropod Ecology. The site is a blog authored by Dr. Christopher Buddle, an Associate Professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Chris has been in his field of study for twenty years, and his interests include, not surprisingly, arthropod ecology, arachnology, and natural history.

Chris discovered BHL some time ago, but recently enjoyed a “rediscovery” when he found us on social media. By following @BioDivLibrary on Twitter and browsing our albums on Flickr, Chris discovered the stunning visual resources that BHL has to offer, and through this exchange, developed a new love for our collections. In fact, Twitter and Flickr have become his favorite BHL features. He checks the Twitter feed daily and our Flickr collections every few weeks. His use of the website itself happens about once a month, particularly when he’s trying to locate a specific publication, which he often subsequently downloads as a PDF for future use.

For Chris, BHL’s true impact comes from its ability to spark interest in natural history. As he explained,

“I feel that BHL has helped reignite a love of natural history, both for me at a personal level, but also more broadly in biology. Our current science is built upon those before us, and it’s easy to forget this. We tend to focus on current whiz-bang publications, using new techniques and new analytical approaches. We are in an era of big data, and big science. I applaud many of these new approaches, but we must be reminded that without Wallace, Bates, the Peckhams, or McCook, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Their contributions are still relevant and help inform current science, and these contributions are stored on BHL and accessible because of BHL. That is significant and important and should not be taken for granted.

I don’t use BHL directly in my research all that much, but it has happened! As an example, I was working on a paper related to jumping spiders, and as part of that, was collecting ant-mimicking jumping spiders in a local forest. I wanted to learn more about the species, and try to uncover what we know about its life history. An online search revealed a few recent papers on the species, but the really good stuff was written in the late 1800s by the Peckhams. George and Elizabeth Peckham were teachers in Wisconsin, back in the 1800s, and in their spare time watched and wrote about insects and spiders. Their work was quite meticulous. Thankfully, BHL had their paper, and I was able to download the PDF and learn a great deal about the species courtship. Having access to the old literature made this possible.

Browsing through BHL, and the images from BHL on the Flickr page (which is probably where I spend the most time!), is truly inspiring. The old sketches, drawings, and paintings are masterpieces. Many of them tell a story: for example, I recall seeing some drawings of “Spiders and their enemies” – these images are more than a depiction of a species. These images tell about ecological interactions.

Natural history is seeing a revival, and papers such as Tschinkel & Wilson remind us about how our world makes more sense when we uncover the natural history of species, whether it’s a Pseudoscorpion, woodpecker or epiphyte. Igniting a passion for natural history sometimes takes a catalyst: perhaps a field trip, story, a line from an old paper, or an image. To me, this is among the most valuable contribution that BHL makes to our world. It’s not necessarily a ‘tangible’ outcome; it can’t be easily measured in clicks, research dollars, publications or citations. But the long term benefits may be enormous, whether it’s a researcher like me being reminded about the value of old literature, or whether it’s a high school student being inspired by the BHL Flickr set about orchids. We need passion and engagement about biodiversity across all sectors of society, and BHL certainly facilitates this.”

“Inspiring discovery through free access to biodiversity knowledge.” That’s BHL’s vision statement. Through not only open access to natural history literature, but also through other engagement outlets like Twitter and Facebook, through new presentations of our content, such as Flickr or online exhibitions, and through citizen science initiatives, we’re working hard to realize that vision and are thrilled to see the fruits of our labors through Chris’ testimony.

So, if you’re bundled up for the winter months, take a moment to think about the intrepid spiders in your local ecosystems that are putting millions of years of evolution to good use to brave the cold right along with you. And if we’ve sparked your interest in these amazing animals, do a search in our collection or browse our Flickr images to help fan the flames of discovery. It’s a blaze that just might help keep you warm this winter.

January 14, 2016by michelle.underhill
Blog Reel, User Stories

The Tarantupedia, an online encyclopaedia for the biggest spiders in the world
Portrait version of the Biodiversity Heritage Library logo.

Tarantulas are amazing. Not only do they include the largest of all spiders, with some species reaching a legspan the size of a dinner plate, but they are arguably some of the most beautiful too. While famous for giants that inhabit the jungles of South America, some species barely grow larger than your thumb nail. Some species live on trees in damp forests while others live in self-constructed tubular burrows in the ground in some of the most inhospitable deserts. Some have special protective hairs on their bodies which cause extreme itching when they come into contact with the mucous membranes of potential predators, while others produce a hissing sound in self-defence. While they are the stuff of nightmares for some people, they are the source of absolute fascination for others.

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The Tarantupedia is relatively new venture started about three years ago by a tarantula enthusiast in South Africa, Dimitri Kambas. His goal is to produce the authoritative online resource for information on tarantulas. Importantly, his focus is on scientific information, something that stands in stark contrast with the majority of tarantula websites which are centered on keeping tarantulas in captivity. The Tarantupedia is different. You won’t find captive care sheets or guidelines on how to breed a particular species. Instead you will find the kind of the information reminiscent of a detailed scientific publication, but presented in an easy-on-eye, comfortable-to-work-with format intended for scientists and interested members of the general public alike.

The project began with the construction of a digital taxonomic catalogue, a presentation of tarantula classification linked to information on taxonomic authors and their publications. The Tarantupedia uses modern web technologies, so the data are presented in a dynamic format where the user can view the same information from multiple different perspectives. You may want to know who described a particular species, or how many species a particular author has described. You can get lists of species mentioned in a particular publication, or if you’re interested, you can get a short biography for some of the better known tarantula experts. You can even see where the original type specimen for a particular species was collected, presented neatly on Google Maps.

Tarantula taxonomy had early beginnings, with Linnaeus himself even responsible for the descriptions of one or two species. Developing the Tarantupedia has required investigation of some of the earliest literature, and this is where the Biodiversity Heritage Library has been invaluable. Through the efforts of the BHL, many obscure and largely forgotten taxonomic articles were available for consultation where they were needed. The Tarantupedia links directly to the BHL so users can examine relative literature for themselves at the click of a mouse. Using the BHL API, Tarantupedia finds instances of species names in the articles stored on BHL and creates hyperlinks directly to those article pages where the species names are mentioned. Anyone who has worked with old literature knows how daunting it can be trying to track down old but important works. Thanks to the BHL, not only do you get the relevant literature, but you can go right to the parts of the literature that are of interest to you! This creates a resource that taxonomists can use to find the information they need fast, lowering the barrier to further taxonomic research which is sorely needed for many tarantula taxa.

If you’re interested to learn more please visit the Tarantupedia at www.tarantupedia.com. This is an on-going project with a growing base of contributors from around the world and new information is added almost daily. Suggestions for improvements are welcome, as are contributions in the way of photographs, sighting records, and missing literature. With continued support, particularly from other projects like the BHL, the Tarantupedia will become an invaluable resource for anyone interested in these amazing animals.

Enjoy a selection of historic tarantula illustrations from books in the BHL collection on Flickr.

August 13, 2015by ulib-libraryjobs
Blog Reel, User Stories

Exploring Arachnids with Harry Potter and Logan Pierce

If you’re a Harry Potter fan, then you know what the three unforgivable curses are. And if you’ve seen the movies, you’ll remember the scene where Mad-eye Moody demonstrates those curses in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. If you’re recalling the scene now, you’re probably thinking, “Yeah, he tortured and killed a spider.”

If that’s what you’re thinking, you’re wrong (if you managed to avoid the Harry Potter craze and have no idea what we’re talking about, just smile and nod with superiority at not being taken in by our leading comment and read on). The subject of Mad-eye’s persecution was, in fact, an Amblypygid.

Sometimes called “whip spiders,” Amblypygids are an invertebrate group belonging to Arachnida but separate from spiders. They have six walking legs, eight eyes, and claw-like, extra long pedipalps modified for grabbing prey and, if you’re a male, fertile females.

Spider or not, if you’re like Ron, an Amblypygid sighting would probably provoke shrieks of terror or mad dashes to higher ground (such as atop a trusty chair that a multi-legged critter couldn’t possibly climb…). At the very least, you’re probably not feeling very inspired to seek one out as a pet.

But if you’re Logan Pierce, that’s exactly what you’re doing.

An arachnid enthusiast, Pierce’s love affair with these eight-legged invertebrates began at age nine, when he “picked up a book on scorpions and read it religiously.” At age fourteen, his aunt bought him his first two species (an Emperor scorpion, Pandinus imperator, and a Tarantula labeled as a Rose-Hair, Grammostola species), and he’s been collecting, rearing, and breeding hundreds of arachnids and invertebrates ever since. Today, his collection consists of over 100 specimens, representing 32 species.

When asked why he’s so captivated by arachnids, Pierce responded, “I actually have a slight fascination with their ‘strategies’ concerning prey acquisition. Another interest of mine is the way that scorpions eat their prey, with two smaller ‘claw-like’ structures called chelicerae.”

Through his profile @xMiPHISTox, Pierce recently discovered BHL on twitter thanks to a post we did on an 1841 illustration of the Amblypygid species Phrynus Ceylonicus from Sri Lanka. After engaging in a conversation with him, we learned that not only is he rearing a subadult of another Amblypygid species, Phrynus marginemaculatus, but that he maintains a Tumblr (That Arachnid Keeper) for the purposes of sharing information, care, and breeding logs for the many Arachnid species in his possession.

One of his posts reports Logan’s experience caring for, feeding, and attempting to breed the scorpion species Brachistosternus negrei. Native to Chile, this species is rarely bred successfully in the U.S. On April 18, 2013, Pierce received a shipment of 7 specimens, which he described as “very feisty…When unpacking them and taking them out of their small holding containers I exhaled through my nose, which made one go into a stinging frenzy,” he wrote.

After sexing his brood by searching for a “Spur” within the inner side of their fixed Pedipalp finger (Spur only present in males), Logan identified 4 females and 3 males – a good ratio for breeding. He relates his two attempts to breed his specimens as follows: “They’re aggressive breeders, and do things akin to Androctonus, such as the male approaching the female, doing what I can only describe as ‘juddering’ until he gets close to the female, in which event he will subdue the female by stinging her once and lock his pedipalps to whatever he’s able to clasp. He will then move his pedipalps from appendage up to the females…lock with them…[and] slowly drag her around, looking for a suitable spot to drop a spermatophore. Females of this species seem to be very finicky, as they’ve ended all mating attempts made by my male, even though they are adults and confirmed females.”

While breeding challenges may be expected, considering it’s an advanced activity that most arachnid-owners probably won’t attempt, even basic nurturing is not without its difficulties. “If someone were to own species such as scorpions with little known information, or almost none, the most challenging part would be procuring information to set up a habitat for them,” said Pierce.

Logan is also currently grappling with sexing his subadult Amblypygid, which involves knocking the specimen out with CO2, pulling back the genital plate, and searching for a specific formation. A delicate procedure, to say the least. And you thought owning an arachnid would be as simple as feeding it a few crickets now and then…

Have we inspired you to choose an arachnid of your own to care for? If so, “Do your research before acquiring any invertebrate,” cautions Pierce. “I see so many people online throwing caution to the wind whilst purchasing species such as Leiurus quinquestriatus (Deathstalker scorpion), Androctonus australis, and many other highly dangerous species. I would also say that arachnids are generally shelf-pets, and should not be purchased with handling in mind, or with the intent of showing off to friends. Invertebrates can be stressed from excess handling (But this has been debated many times by people), or from bothering them too much. Any invertebrate purchased should be purchased with the intent of observation and possibly preservation.” Get more great insight and information from Logan on That Arachnid Keeper.

If you’re not quite ready to make the leap to Arachnid caretaker, you could start by browsing some of the lovely arachnid illustrations in BHL. If you’re feeling too squeamish for that, we hope that at least this post has helped you understand the differences between spiders and Amblypygids. Just because it’s got lots of legs and eyes doesn’t mean it builds a web (…although we’re not sure how much comfort Ron will find in that).

We love the way social media allows us to connect with so many fascinating biodiversity enthusiasts, learn more about earth’s incredibly diverse flora and fauna, and share our own resources in exciting new ways. Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or through a blog comment to tell us about your own biodiversity and research experiences!

* Special thanks to Logan Pierce for sharing his expertise, information, and images with us!

September 4, 2014by ulib-libraryjobs
Blog Reel, User Stories

Biology Catalog and Joel Hallan
Portrait version of the Biodiversity Heritage Library logo.

BHL and Our Users: Joel Hallan

For BHL and Our Users this week, we’re doing things a little differently. Instead of a questionnaire-style post, Program Manager Grace Costantino interviewed this week’s guest, computer programmer and spider enthusiast Joel Hallan of Texas A&M; University, over the phone. Each question is presented below as a separate video.

We’re trying to be more interactive with our interviews in the future, and we hope this will serve as a first good step in that direction!

What is your name, title, and institutional affiliation?

Can you expand on your special area of interest?

 Where did your interest in spiders come from?

Where did your interest in computer science come from?

 Can you tell us about your online catalog, Biology Catalog?

What compelled you to create Biology Catalog?

What would your perfect vision of Biology Catalog look like?

When did you first discover BHL?

How often and in what ways do you use BHL?

What is your opinion of BHL and how has it supported your work on Biology Catalog?

If you could change one thing about BHL, what would it be?

Thanks for tuning in this week! Check back for more great interviews with our creative, dedicated and enthusiastic users to get more ideas about new ways you can put BHL to use. Be sure to check out Joel’s catalog, Biology Catalog, an ambitious project which will hopefully one day serve as a catalog of all species.

If you’re interested in being interviewed on our blog, leave a comment on this post, send us feedback, or email us as [email protected].

 

September 18, 2012by ulib-libraryjobs
Blog Reel, User Stories

BHL and Our Users: Dr. Petra Sierwald
Portrait version of the Biodiversity Heritage Library logo.

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This week we feature a researcher from one of our partner institutions, the Field Museum in Chicago. So without further ado, meet Dr. Petra Sierwald, a woman with a passion for spreading biodiversity knowledge to ensure equal participation among researchers in all parts of the globe and educating the younger generation on the importance of biodiversity conservation.

Q: What is your title, institutional affiliation, and area of interest?
A: Associate Curator, Arachnida & Myriapoda, Zoology, at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago. Interests and Research include biodiversity and evolutionary research in spiders and millipedes. Currently, my special interests are: building scientific infrastructure. In my case (a) a global millipede species database with complete literature citations; and (b) teaching the next generation the importance of biodiversity for the health of our planet.

Q: How long have you been in your field of study?
A: Over thirty years.

Q: When did you first discover BHL?
A: At the beginning of BHL (2007) – the Field Museum library and Field Museum’s Biodiversity Synthesis Center are both closely involved with BHL.

Q: What is your opinion of BHL and how has it impacted your research?
A: Libraries are the stewards of the knowledge on which all human civilization is based. BHL is the modern virtual library we desperately need right now and must expand: by capturing the literature digitally, the original paper books can be preserved to last through the coming centuries (in case something should happen to digital storage). Making the biodiversity data, which were initially accumulated within the Western European tradition, available to the rest of the world is our duty and responsibility, as it will allow equal participation of everbody in biodiversity research and thus invite new young talented people from every corner of the world. Finally, the participation of a diverse group of new researchers will benefit all of us, as more students study the biodiversity of their region and protect habitats important for the environmental health of the planet.

Q: How often do you use BHL?
A: Currently almost daily, together with other digital online libraries. All my students (in courses and at the Museum) have to work on species pages and search for literature. BHL is one of the first sources they search in. I always check whether they properly searched in BHL.

Q: How do you usually use BHL (read the titles online/download whole PDFs/Select Pages to Download/Download High Resolution Images/etc.)
A: At the current pace I am using BHL, I read online. Since BHL is always available, I do not need to download, print or store articles and volumes electronically. I save that step. I use BHL the same way I use Field Museum’s excellent library. I find the book or volume, check what needs to be checked and put the volume back (or close the window in BHL). I know BHL rather well; I always find what I need. This saves me the work of organizing a separate library on my computer.

Q: What are your favorite features/services on BHL?
A: That I can read entire articles, cross check bibliographic information (title, publication dates), and that I can search in many articles for key words. The scanning quality is very good.

Q: If you could change one thing about BHL, what would it be, or what developmental aspect would you like the BHL team to focus on next?
A: Filling gaps in journal runs and the author list must be cleaned up. For example, Snodgrass is in BHL twice, as Snodgrass R.E. and as Snodgrass, Robert Evans. Both author entries (referring to the same person) are linked to different publications. Since I am using BHL heavily as a bibliographic reference tool, I would greatly appreciate to have clean author lists. BHL needs support and the scientific community must help in this endeavor.

Q: If you had to choose one title/item in BHL that has most impacted your research, or one item that you prefer above any other in BHL, what would it be and why?
A: My co-authors and I were able to determine that the species Euzonus zonatus does not exist, but that the name is based on a misinterpretation by Giebel. The original publication: Giebel, C.G. (1856) Die Insecten und Spinnen der Vorwelt mit Berücksichtigung der Lebenden, monograph. dargestellt. 2. Bd. Gliederthiere. 1. Abth. Insecten und Spinnen, is available in BHL.

Resulting Publication: Brewer, M.S., Sierwald, P. and Bond, J.E., 2011. A Generichomonym Concerning Chordeumatid Millipedes (Arthopoda: Diplopoda) and Opheliid Worms (Annelida: Polychaeta). Zootaxa 2744: 65-68.

Thank you all at BHL.

And thank, you Dr. Sierwald, for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences with us. We have, per your notification, merged the duplicate author entires for Snodgrass in BHL. De-duplicating author lists is definitely of concern for BHL (and indeed for any collaborative digital library project where multiple contributors submit data in various formats), but we need the support of our users, as Dr. Sierwald points out. If you notice multiple entries for the same author in BHL, send us a message via our feedback form and we’ll take care of it. As we continue to explore options for author de-duplication en mass, we highly appreciate the eyes of our users to take care of this issue one author at a time.

For more information on Dr. Sierwald, visit the Insects page on the Field Museum’s website.

Photo Credit:© The Field Museum, Z94083_1c, Photographer John Weinstein.

April 12, 2011by ulib-libraryjobs
Blog Reel, Featured Books

Book of the Week: Halloween Special

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So, Halloween’s just around the corner, so we at BHL thought it might be appropriate to highlight a species, and a book, appropriate for the season. Most likely, if you had to associate a single species from the animal kingdom with the spine-tingling glee of the Halloween experience, it would be the spider (unless you are a fan of the recent vampire craze, in which case you’ll likely choose a bat). Most people, when they think of a Halloween spider, probably draw to mind images of Black Widows, or simply enormous, generic, black, eight-legged beasts. However, did you ever think to imagine a spider with horns on its body? If not, well, you’re in luck.

Meet the Spined Micrathena, or Micrathena gracilis (Walckenaer, 1805), formerly known as Acrosoma gracile. This member of the orb-weaver family inhabits the regions east of the Rocky Mountain states in North America. The females reach a length of about 10mm, while the males grow to be only about half that size. They vary widely in color, apparently, according to this week’s book of the week, according to age.

So by now you’re getting excited about the prospect of a new costume design specifically catered to frighten all the little children that come knocking on your door for trick-or-treat goodies. And where might you get a comprehensive description of this most appropriate eight-legged All Hallows’ Eve muse? In this week’s book of the week, volume 3 of American spiders and their spinningwork. A natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits, by Henry C. McCook (Spined Micrathena description starting page 212).

And, even if the Spined Micrathena doesn’t quite strike your fancy, or you’re simply worried about inadvertently poking out the eye of an unsuspecting child with your spiky costume adornments, there are plenty of other arachnid species highlighted in this book to choose from. So, in preparation for all your ghastly Halloween needs, let BHL give you a hand. After all, the natural world has much more terrifying imagery than any ghost or goblin story could ever hope to offer! So, from all of us at BHL, have a positively ghastly Halloween. Mwahhha!

This week’s book of the week, volume 3 of American spiders and their spinningwork. A natural history of the orbweaving spiders of the United States, with special regard to their industry and habits (1893), by Henry C. McCook, is contributed by the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.

October 18, 2010by ulib-libraryjobs

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About BHL

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as a worldwide consortium of natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working together to digitize the natural history literature held in their collections and make it freely available for open access as part of a global “biodiversity community.”

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The Biodiversity Heritage Library makes it easier than ever for you to access the information you need to study and explore life on Earth…for free, anytime, anywhere.