In April 2025, BHL announced that the Smithsonian Institution would no longer host the consortium’s administrative and technical operations after 1 January 2026. This required BHL to establish new arrangements for its staff, financial administration, fundraising, technical infrastructure, and day-to-day operations. It also created an opportunity to strengthen BHL’s organizational foundations, develop a more distributed … Read more
With the major transition work complete, BHL is focused on strengthening and developing its new operating model. Current priorities include: building sustainable and diversified funding; modernizing BHL’s technical platform and services; strengthening governance and organizational capacity; developing new institutional, research, and technical partnerships; growing and improving BHL’s collections and data; making BHL content easier to … Read more
BHL remains a community-led global consortium governed through its Bylaws, Members Council, and Executive Committee. Its committees, working groups, and wider community also contribute expertise and help guide BHL’s strategic direction, collections, services, partnerships, and technical development. BHL is funded through a combination of: dues from Member and Affiliate institutions; grants and philanthropic funding; donations … Read more
Visit the Future of BHL page for an overview of the transition, major milestones, guiding principles, and BHL’s priorities for the future. Updates are also shared through the BHL Blog, BHL Newsletter, BHL Community Forum, and social media channels.
The Field Museum, one of BHL’s long-standing Member institutions, hosts BHL’s core technical infrastructure. In June 2026, BHL’s servers and associated systems were successfully moved from the Smithsonian Institution to the Field Museum. The Field Museum now supports the continued operation of the BHL website, database, APIs, and associated services. This arrangement is an important … Read more
The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) provides BHL’s administrative and financial home through a fiscal sponsorship arrangement. CLIR supports BHL through financial management, contracting, grant administration, charitable donation processing, and employment support. This enables BHL to operate without establishing a separate legal entity, while retaining its own mission, identity, governance, and global partnerships. … Read more
BHL moved from a model in which its central administrative, financial, staffing, and technical functions were hosted by the Smithsonian Institution to a distributed, partner-supported structure. Key changes included: establishing the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) as BHL’s fiscal sponsor and administrative home; transferring BHL’s financial administration, contracting, fundraising, and employment arrangements to … Read more
Following a major organizational and technical transition in 2025–2026, BHL has entered a new chapter as an independent, resilient, and globally supported consortium. The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) now provides BHL’s administrative and financial home, while the Field Museum hosts its core technical infrastructure. BHL remains a community-led consortium governed through its … Read more