Meeting: The 2017 BHL Annual Meeting travels to Singapore, 14-17 March 2017 and a new Chair of the Executive Committee

In 2017, The National Library Board of Singapore hosted the BHL Annual Meeting as well as a number of side events across the city. The official meeting didn't open until 14 March 2017, but we did open with a dinner on the 13th. Elaine Ng (CEO, the National Library Board, Singapore) and Wai Yin Pryke (Director, National Library, National Library Board of Singapore) were our most gracious hosts.

I'd previously visited Singapore in February 2014 after a Global BHL Meeting in Melbourne, Australia. I was hosted by the National Library Board (NLB) and that visit lead to NLB becoming a BHL member. But more about that visit in another post. 

It was at this meeting that Connie Rinaldo (MCZ, Harvard) took over as Chair of the BHL Executive Committee from Dr. Nancy E. Gwinn (Smithsonian Libraries). The group honored Dr. Gwinn for her years of service to BHL at the conclusion of the meeting.

From left: me, Wai Yin Pryke, Connie,

Jane Smith (NHM, London), Nancy E. Gwinn

For the 2017 BHL Annual Meeting, I travelled to Singapore directly from a Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board Meeting in Scottsdale, AZ (4-8 March 2017). Starting in Arizona (and then travelling via San Francisco cut off a little bit of the jet lag!

From Left: Out on the Town; at the Botanic Garden; Connie and Jane

Over the course of the visit, I did a number of presentations, for the actual meeting, the BHL Open Day Symposium at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, and a public lecture at the National Library of Singapore.

  

• Kalfatovic, M. (2017, March 16). Empowering Global Research in Biodiversity: The Biodiversity Heritage Library. 2017 BHL Annual Meeting, Singapore. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18911858
• Kalfatovic, M. (2017, March 17). 2017 BHL Program Director's Report: 11 Years of Growth & Sustainability. 2017 BHL Annual Meeting, Singapore. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18911907
• Kalfatovic, M. (2017, March 17). A Vast Library of Life: The Biodiversity Heritage Library. 2017 BHL Annual Meeting, Singapore. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18911997

 

From Left: Connie, Drs. Xi and Cui (BHL China): National Library of Singapore; with Ely Wallis (BHL AU)

 

From Left: BHL Meeting; Gardens by the Bay, Super Grove; Connie and Gildas Illien (Paris)

Official Group Photo

Pre-meeting dinner with National Library Board Staff

and John Cole (Library of Congress)