BHL Day 2024: Year of the Cicada: Buzzing with 17 Years of Biodiversity Achievements
Chicago, IL | 16 May 2024
As part of its 2024 Annual Meeting, BHL is hosting a public symposium on 16 May 2024 at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois. Themed “Year of the Cicada: Buzzing with 17 Years of Biodiversity Achievements“, the program will include a keynote by Dr. Gene Kritsky on the dual emergence of Broods XIII and XIX of the periodical cicadas (Magicicada), as well as sessions from local biodiversity experts and partners from across the BHL consortium sharing major achievements of that past 17 years.
BHL Day 2023: Fostering Data Driven Natural Science through Open Digital Libraries
Paris, France | 19 April 2023
As part of its 2023 Annual Meeting, BHL is hosting a public symposium on 19 April 2023 at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN) in Paris, France. Themed “Fostering Data Driven Natural Science through Open Digital Libraries”, the program will include sessions reflecting on the use of literature data for natural science; interoperability between digital libraries and natural science databases; and the construction of local and global networks around data exchange and alignment.
Digitizing Hidden Collections Symposium, part of the DLF 2022 Forum
Baltimore, MD | 12 – 13 October 2022
The 2015 CLIR Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) Field Notes Project successfully digitized nearly 500,000 pages of scientific research. BHL Project staff are now investigating new techniques to transcribe text, data, and media and transform this content into structured data that will improve humanity’s understanding of climate change impacts on biodiversity. Learn more.
SPNHC 2022: A Joint Meeting of SPNHC, BHL, and NatSCA
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK | 5 – 10 June 2022
The 2022 Annual Meeting of the Biodiversity Heritage Library will be held in conjunction with the meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) and the Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA). Learn more.
BHL Symposium at TDWG 2021: Building collaborative resiliency through the Biodiversity Heritage Library
Online | 21 October 2021, 2100-2300 UTC
The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is celebrating 15 years in 2021 and has been valued by the biodiversity community and others throughout this time. BHL, from its inception, had the goal of connecting data, uniting people through outreach, communication and engagement, and developing tools and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to improve access to biodiversity data. BHL’s key strength is the community. As the consortium has grown in members, content, and complexity, BHL has continued to exemplify stability and resiliency. The last year of lockdowns, isolation and working from home have demonstrated the importance of the BHL as a content-rich digital library, as well as a tool to connect biodiversity data. BHL has allowed work to continue where otherwise it would not have been possible without physical access to the library. BHL partners around the world continued to enhance metadata and improve content delivery. As noted by Alice Lemaire, the COVID crisis was “an accelerator of digital advances and transformation”. BHL’s natural ecosystem is collaborating virtually, supporting open science, and building a robust community. BHL’s collaborative resiliency provides value to the greater biodiversity community and beyond. This symposium will focus on the trajectory of BHL’s strategic plan and review new tools and advances. Learn more.
Language of Flowers Virtual Symposium
Online | 30 April 2021, 1500-1900 UTC (1100-1500 ET)
Join the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Lenhardt Library and the Caxton Club for a free, virtual symposium celebrating the Language of Flowers—a popular literary trend in the 19th century that presented the world of botany through dictionaries of flowers and associated meanings, floral poetry and prose, offering a sentimental view of natural history.
Notes from Nature: The Biodiversity Heritage Collections
Online | 16 April 2021, 1130-1230 UTC (0730-0830 ET)
Join us for a special closing event presented as part of the 2021 BHL Annual Meeting! Organized by National Library Singapore and Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN), France in partnership with BHL, this event will discuss how Singapore and France have worked together in advancing biodiversity literature, digitization, and public outreach efforts.
Online | 14 April 2021, 1200-1700 UTC (0800-1300 ET)
Join us for a virtual BHL Day 2021 on 14 April, presented as part of our 2021 Annual Meeting! Themed “Reflections In Crises”, the program will include sessions reflecting on BHL’s roles in addressing the biodiversity crisis, challenges arising from COVID-19, and systemic racism in natural history collections.
Wikipedia & Women in Science: Smithsonian Groundbreakers Edit-a-thon
Online | 25 March 2021, 1-3pm ET
During this training, attendees of all experience levels will learn the basics of how to edit Wikipedia by updating articles related to the history of women in science at the Smithsonian Institution. Presenters will share how editors might research the work of these women in the absence of personal papers and institutional records.
BHL Symposium at TDWG 2020: Enhancing Connections With the Global Neighbourhood Through Expanding Partnerships
Online | 20 October 2020 @ 20:00 UTC
The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is more than a digital library, it is a key resource for data related to biodiversity. Data such as museum specimens, taxonomic names, environmental and geolocation variables is embedded in the published and unpublished literature found in BHL. Over the past year, BHL has developed a five year strategic plan designed to bring more focus on data, technology and partnerships. BHL is already well-established within the global bibliographical knowledge base. The plan for the symposium is to highlight some new directions and identify synergies and connections with current, new and potential partners in the biodiversity knowledge infrastructure. Learn more.
Her Natural History: A Celebration of Women in Natural History
Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) | 8-31 March 2019
Women have made remarkable contributions to biodiversity research. Starting on International Women’s Day (8 March 2019), follow #HerNaturalHistory to celebrate women’s contributions to natural history as part of Women’s History Month with a month of social media posts and online programming. Learn more.
Wikipedia Editing Workshop on Women in Natural History
National Museum of Natural History Library (Smithsonian Libraries) and Remote Participation | 13 March 2019. 10am-2pm ET
In collaboration with Smithsonian Libraries and with support from Wikimedia DC, BHL will be hosting a Wikipedia Editing Workshop to improve and create Wikipedia articles related to women in natural history. The workshop will be hosted by the Smithsonian Libraries in the National Museum of Natural History Library. There will also be virtual participation options. Registration is required. Learn more.
BioBlitz and Biodiversity Festival 2016
Constitution Gardens, National Mall, 17th and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington DC | 20-21 May 2016, 9am-5pm EDT
BHL will participate in the 2016 BioBlitz with a booth at the corresponding Biodiversity Festival. BioBlitz is a two-day event where volunteer scientists, naturalists, families, and students work together to discover, identify, learn from and celebrate the flora and fauna in national parks in and around Washington, D.C. The corresponding Biodiversity Festival will feature hands-on science exhibits, food, and art, as well as family-friendly entertainment and activities. Learn more and explore BHL’s booth.
Museum Day Live!
Smithsonian Castle Commons, Washington, DC | 12 March 2016, 12:30-3pm EST
Museum Day Live! will encourage all people, and particularly women and girls of color, to explore their nation’s museums, cultural institutions, zoos, aquariums, parks and libraries—which will offer free admission for the day. The celebration will include a career-focused event consisting of information tables and discussions with museum professionals about careers in museums and libraries and ways to get involved with various organizations. BHL is partnering with Smithsonian Libraries to host one of the information tables. Learn more: http://blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2016/03/celebrating-women-in-science-and-museum.html
“Once There Were Billions: Vanished Birds of North America”
National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC | June 2014 – October 2015
The fate of the Passenger Pigeon, and three other extinct North American bird species (Great Auk, Carolina Parakeet, and Heath Hen) are the focus of a joint BHL/Smithsonian Libraries’ exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History: Once There Were Billions: Vanished Birds of North America. The histories of these lost species are told through compelling narratives, taxidermied specimens (including Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon), books from the Smithsonian Libraries’ collection (many of which are available digitally in BHL) and images from BHL. Learn more: http://library.si.edu/digital-library/exhibition/once-there-were-billions
TDWG Annual Meeting 2013
Grand Hotel Mediterraneo, Florence, Italy | 28 October – 01 November 2013
BHL hosted a symposium, “Crafting the Future of a Global Biodiversity Heritage Library for Diverse Communities’ Needs” that was attended by over 50 TDWG participants. Six members of the Global BHL community participated in the symposium which focused on strategies for creating, expanding and maintaining a multinational digital library programme; digitization platforms, standards and services; creating value-added features for discipline-specific communities; use of social media and outreach to increase use and build new audiences; and migration from projects to sustainable programmes.
ALA Midwinter 2013
Washington State Convention Center | 25-28 January, 2013
BHL, in conjunction with the Smithsonian Archives, will host a booth at the ALA Midwinter meeting, an event that brings together over 10,000 libraries from around the world to explore innovations, challenges, and developments in the library world. The booth will give BHL and Archives staff a chance to share their respective services with this important user community.
Ecological Society of America 2012
Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR | 5-10 August, 2012
BHL, in conjunction with EOL, will host a booth at the Ecological Society of America 2012 Annual Meeting, an event which will discuss the challenges and opportunities facing earth’s biological diversity today. The booth will give BHL and EOL staff a chance to share their respective services with this important user community.
American Libraries Association Midwinter 2012
Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, TX | 20-24 January, 2012
BHL, in conjunction with EOL, will host a booth at the ALA Midwinter meeting, an event that brings together over 10,000 libraries from around the world to explore innovations, challenges, and developments in the library world. The booth will give BHL and EOL staff a chance to share their respective services with this important user community. More information.
Life and Literature Conference
Field Museum, Chicago, IL, USA | 14-15 November, 2011
The Life and Literature Conference will convene librarians, biologists, computer scientists, publishers, students, and other stakeholders to set the agenda for biodiversity literature digitizing and its networked environment for the next four to five years. More information (archived).
American Library Association @ SIL
Smithsonian Institution Libraries (SIL), National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. | 28 June, 2010
In conjunction with the American Libraries Association Annual 2010 Meeting, SIL will host a symposium to share information about BHL with conference attendees.