In the News: "Finding Flora and Fauna" in American Libraries (19 June 2019)

BHL was featured in The Bookend feature of American Libraries in the 3 June 2019 issue. It took a couple of photo shoots to get the picture. Special thanks to (then) Smithsonian Libraries rare book librarian, Allie Alvis (aka Bookhistoria) for helping set up the photoshoot in the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History at the Smithsonian.

Find the full issue here: "Bookend: Finding Flora and Fauna" by George M. Eberhart. American Libraries | June 3, 2019.

Installations: The Internet Archive Scribe machine arrives at the Smithsonian

To ramp up digitization of content, BHL partnered with the Internet Archive. In addition to using the large scale digitization centers the Internet Archive had set up in other parts of the country (Boston, San Francisco, New York), the Smithsonian partnered with the Library of Congress to set up a digitization center on Capitol Hill. To supplement the mass digitization center, the Smithsonian also hosted a single Scribe machine in the natural history building that that would focus on rare and fragile materials. 

On Saturday, 5 May 2007, the Scribe machine was delivered to the Smithsonian. Along with Tom Garnett, we were there to meet the delivery truck and help the movers transport the Scribe into the building. 

The Natural History museum is across the street from the Department of Justice and the Attorney General's office. A large, unmarked truck arriving on a weekend and turning around in the middle of Constitution Avenue drew the attention of law enforcement. We were able to explain what was going on and allowed to proceed with the unloading.

The Scribe, operated by Internet Archive and Smithsonian staff would go on to digitize hundreds of thousands of pages of biodiversity literature for BHL until it was removed in 2025.

Presentation: The Biodiversity Heritage Library: Smithsonian Libraries Staff Update (17 March 2010)

As lead for the Smithsonian Libraries' (SIL) participation in the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL), I regularly gave updates at SIL staff meetings about the progress of BHL and the contributions from SIL staff and collections. This one plays on the nickname of the Smithsonian, "the octopus on the Mall" for some of the graphics.

The presentation calls out many of the great SIL staff who had been contributing to BHL up to that point. They were an important part of why, as the presentation says at the end, BHL is "A Whale of a Success." 

• Kalfatovic, M. (2010, March 17). The Biodiversity Heritage Library: Smithsonian Libraries Staff Update. Smithsonian Libraries Town Meeting, Washington, DC. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18988433

Note: the presentation had lost some of the images over the years, these were replaced by the copy of the presentation stored on Slideshare. All my Slideshare presentations are being systematically deleted as I upload them to Zenodo. There may be more of these legacy issues in futures uploads.

Meeting: BHL Institutional Council meeting (8-9 March 2011, Washington, DC)

At this meeting (which took place 8-9 March 2011 in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian Libraries), the governing body of the BHL was termed the BHL Institutional Council. The meeting brought together leaders from most of the BHL partners at the time. At left is the 2nd BHL, designed by staff at the Missouri Botanical Garden. The current logo was introduced on 1 September 2011.

BHL Institutional Council, March 2011

Washington, DC

In my role as BHL Deputy Program Director, I regularly made presentations at the BHL governance meeting. 2011 was important for BHL planning. The "Life and Literature" conference, to be held later in the fall, was being planned. Also, with the initial funding from the MacArthur Foundation running out, plans for what would come next for BHL structure and governance were a major topic (Hibernation, Status Quo, Development and Future Growth). 

• Kalfatovic, M. (2011, March 8). Taking Measure of the Biodiversity Heritage Library: 2003 - 2010. 2011 BHL Institutional Council Meeting, Washington, DC. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18819012

In this presentation, I played on the unofficial tag line, "Extensive.Open.Global" to outline a variety of metrics of success. The tagline was also featured in a video I made the previous September:

Some photos from the meeting:

Presentation: The Biodiversity Heritage Library (6 March 2013)

On 6 March 2013, I gave a presentation to the Advisory Board of Smithsonian Libraries on the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Keeping the Advisory Board informed and engaged was an important part of my role as BHL Program Director.

• Kalfatovic, M. (2013, March 6). The Biodiversity Heritage Library. Smithsonian Libraries Board Orientation, Washington, DC. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18818926