Library and Laboratory: The Marriage of Research, Data, and Taxonomic Literature

Today is an important date for the Biodiversity Heritage Library as it marks the start of a key global gathering, “Library and Laboratory: The Marriage of Research, Data, and Taxonomic Literature”  (London, 5 Feb 2005). The meeting, attended by 80+ bioinformaticians, taxonomists, & librarians from around the world delineated many of the key deliverables later developed by the BHL.

[left] Constance Rinaldo (left, Harvard) & Tom Garnett (Smithsonian); Connie was later the first Secretary of the BHL's Executive Committee & later Vice-Chair & Chair; Tom was the inaugural BHL Program Manager.

People

Many of those attending continued in official and unofficial roles (as advisors) after BHL was formally organized in 2006 and then launched in May of 2007.

[right] Anna Weitzman (Smithsonian), Chris Lyal (NHM), Tom Garnett (Smithsonian) & Graham Higley (NHM). Anna and Chris were important to the informatics development of BHL and Graham was later the first Chair of the BHL Executive Committee.

Doug Holland (Missouri Botanical Garden, below left) was later Secretary of the BHL Executive Committee; in 2004’s “WebWise 2004: Sharing Digital Resources” in Chicago he, along with Chris Freeland (Missouri Botanical Garden), Suzanne Pilsk (Smithsonian), and I did a classic napkin sketch of a digital library for biodiversity in the lounge of the Hotel Intercontinental, Chicago (below right).

The Bioinformaticians

BHL was built on a tripod of libraries, technology and science. A number of these thinkers and theoreticians attended LibLab nad went on to contribute time, code, and administrative know-how to build BHL.

Above Left

Thomas Orrell (left, Smithsonian) & David Remsen (right, MBL WHOI Library); Tom provided bioinformatics guidance for BHL; Dave's innovative & groundbreaking work in taxonomic name finding (uBio) laid the groundwork for much of BHL’s taxonomic infrastructure via the Global Names Architecture. 

Above Center

Sandra Knapp (NHM), plant taxonomist, Fellow of the Royal Society, OBE and key thinker on the topic of organismal taxonomy & important contributor at many BHL meetings.

Above Right

Scott Miller (Smithsonian) & John Kress (Smithsonian); Scott was a key figure in securing millions in financial support for the Biodiversity Heritage Library; John, plant taxonomist & an expert in evolutionary biology is a long-time supporter of BHL

Values

Key values of collaboration, openness, transparency, globalization, & a user/data centric focus were all first elaborated at the conference (which brought together key figures in the origin of @biodivlibrary.bsky.social) & a working meeting at the NHM Librarian’s office the day before.

Pictured, NHM Librarian’s office where Tom Garnett (Smithsonian), Graham Higley (NHM), Bryan Heidorn (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and I sketched out governance of what was to become Biodiversity Heritage Library (4 Feb 2005) [photo from 2014] 

---

More People 

Tom Moritz (left, AMNH) & Robert Morris (University of Massachusetts Boston); Tom provided important guidance on BHL governance & technology; Robert, a computer scientist, provided tech guidance for BHL, particularly in his later role with the Encyclopedia of Life.

---

Missing from LibLab

I had the privilege to attend "LibLab" in 2005, but missed Chris Freeland (Missouri Botanical Garden, later BHL’s inaugural Technical Director) & Cathy Norton (MBL WHOI Library, later the 1st Vice-Chair of the Executive Committee) -- vital figures in the creation of BHL.

[Cathy Norton, left; Chris Freeland, right]

---

Anniversary Season!

In 2016, the Biodiversity Heritage Library celebrated 10 years in London with meetings at the Natural History Museum and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew ... looking forward to hearing what happens at the 20th anniversary gathering in 2026.

Natural History Museum, London (2016)

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2016)