Meeting: 2015 BHL Annual Meeting and BHL Day (17-18 March 2015, The Field Museum, Chicago)

The 2015 BHL Annual Meeting was notable for a number of events, but the key feature was the first BHL Day forum. Modeled in an event held in January 2014 as part of the Global BHL meeting held in Melbourne, Australia. 

Christine (Giannoni) Weiss, Director of The Field Museum Library, organized and introduced the event. Dr. Debra Moskovits, Vice President, Science & Education at The Field welcomed all the BHL attendees. 

The featured speaker was Dr. Matt von Konrat (Head of Botanical Collections and Adjunct Curator & McCarter Collections Manager of Bryophytes and Pteridophytes), who spoke on the topic, "BHL: A Report from the Field." 

It was also announced at the meeting that The Field Museum would move from Affiliate to Full member.

The meeting (led by BHL Executive Committee Chair, Nancy Gwinn) covered many usual topics, including budget and spending, membership composition, strategic planning, and preliminary planning for the 2016 BHL Annual meeting, which would included a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the BHL. 

Dr. Matt von Konrat

The meeting also so attendance from members of the Global BHL community including BHL Africa (Anne-Lise Fourie), BHL Singapore (Eric Chen), and BHL Mexico (Patricia Koleff).

Group Photo

My 2015 Program Director's Report:

• Kalfatovic, M. (2015, March 17). Looking Forward: The Biodiversity Heritage Library: 2015-2016. 2015 BHL Annual Meeting and BHL Day, Chicago, IL (The Field Museum). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19010734

Meeting: 2004 WebWise (3-5 March 2004, Chicago), some BHL Prehistory

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) was a key financial supporter for a number of BHL projects. The WebWise conferences, annually hosted by IMLS from 2000-2013 were important venues for meetings of BHL participants. 

2004’s “WebWise 2004: Sharing Digital Resources”, held 3-5 March 2004 in Chicago, was of particular importance for the after-hours session where ideas about what a digital biodiversity library might look like. 

Along with Doug Holland (Missouri Botanical Garden, later Secretary of the BHL Executive Committee), 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.

At right, table and couch in the Intercontinental Hotel, Chicago, where, at Webwise 2004, BHL was partly born (picture from 2009). 

At a recent visit to Chicago in 2024, I stopped by the lounge, but it has been renovated out of existence.

Some Resources

• First Monday. Volume 9, Number 5 - 3 May 2004. Archived Papers

About IMLS and WebWise (from the 2011 Site)

The following is a description of the WebWise conference and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), circa 2004..

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.