Meeting: 2008 BHL Architecture Meeting (19-21 March 2008, Cambridge, MA) & 2008 BHL Institutional Council meeting

In March 2008, BHL staff gathered in Cambridge, MA at the Museum of Comparative Zoology (Harvard) for an important meeting around BHL's technical architecture.

Attendees included:

• Freeland, Chris (BHL/MOBOT)
• Garnett, Tom (BHL)
• Higley, Graham (NHM)
• Leary, Patrick (EOL/MBL)
• Lichtenberg, Mike (MOBOT)
• Mignault, John (NYBG)
• Morris, Paul (Harvard)
• Norton, Cathy (MBLWHOI)
• Payette, Sandy (Fedora Commons)
• Rinaldo, Connie (Harvard)
• Scholz, Henning (Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)
• Schopf, Jennifer (EOL)
• Thomson, Neil (NHM)
• Warnement, Judy (Harvard Botany) 
• Wendler, Robin (Harvard)

Key agenda items were discussions around the use of Fedora as a repository for BHL content. Chris Freeland provided an overview of the BHL applications, staff from the Encyclopedia of Life discussed possible integrations, and development desiderata were explored.

The planning work on BHL Europe as well as other international partners and their impact on BHL technology were covered.

The out of town group all stayed at the Sheraton Commander in Cambridge. The "She-Raton" was a regular haunt for BHL meetings in Cambridge. One of my favorite photos is below, capturing participants walking from the Commander to the Museum of Comparative Zoology. I call it, "March of the Bioinformaticians".

March of the Bioinformaticians

Following the Architecture Meeting, there was a meeting of the BHL Institutional Council on 21 March, also held at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge Massachusetts, led by the BHL Executive Committee, Graham Higley (Chair), Cathy Norton (Vice-Chair), and Connie Rinaldo (Secretary).

Meeting: 2024 GBIF Midterm Meeting (18-19 March 2024, Copenhagen)

As a member of the second chair of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) Budget Committee (and member of the United States GBIF Delegation) I was invited to the annual GBIF Midterm meetings in Copenhagen. The past years, during my Budget Committee membership, the Budget Committee portion of the meeting had been virtual (for practical reasons or due to COVID-19).

I'd been to Copenhagen previously for GBIF travel, so I knew my way around a bit.

This would be my last GBIF meeting as BHL Program Director (and employee of Smithsonian Libraries and Archives), but I didn't know that at the time! I have continued my participation and engagement with GBIF as I moved to the IIIF Consortium.

Meeting: Boston Library Consortium (18 March 2008, Boston Public Library) and BHL Presentation

Boston Public Library: Free to All

Ahead of the 2008 BHL Architecture Meeting (18-19 March 2008) and BHL Director's Meeting (21 March 2008), Chris Freeland and I gave presentations at the Boston Library Consortium (BLC)Meeting held at Boston Public Library (BPL). 

The BLC meeting was hosted by Barbara G. Preece who served as the Executive Director of the Boston Library Consortium (BLC) from 2000 to 2009. 

The meeting also included a tour of the Internet Archive scanning center at BPL and some other behind the scenes look at BPL operations including work being done on the Adams Family Papers.

Chris Freeland presenting

A rapt audience

From right: Cathy Norton, Barbara Preece,
Matt Person, Diane Rielinger

• Kalfatovic, M. (2008, March 18). A Global Library for Life: The Biodiversity Heritage Library. Boston Library Consortium (March 2008 Meeting), Boston, MA (Boston Public Library). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19034559

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

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: 2012 BHL Institutional Council Meeting (15-16 March 2012, Cambridge, MA), Changing of the Guard

The 2012 BHL Institutional Council meeting, held at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, was a landmark for many reasons.

In addition to the usual reports from the BHL membership and BHL staff members (Tom Garnett, Chris Freeland, Grace Costantino, and Bianca Crowley) there was a report on the "Life and Literature" conference held the previous fall at The Field Museum in Chicago.

There were also discussions of the strategic plan as well as spending plans.

Included tours of the Mayr Library collections and a celebratory dinner at the Harvard Faculty Club.

As Deputy BHL Program Director, I gave a presentation that focused on the contributions of Smithsonian Libraries to the BHL. 

• Kalfatovic, M. (2012, March 15). Smithsonian Libraries & The Biodiversity Heritage Library: 2004 - 2012. 2012 BHL Institutional Council Meeting, Cambridge, MA (Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18903011

Changing of the Guard

This meeting also saw significant changes to the leadership of BHL which were the topics of discussion by the BHL Steering Committee.

Cathy, Tom, Graham with custom BHL vests

The original Executive Committee (Graham Higley, NHM London, Cathy Norton, MBLWHOI Library, and Constance Rinaldo, MCZ Harvard) stepped down or into new roles. This was also the last meeting of Tom Garnett as BHL Program Director as he stepped down to retire. It was at this meeting that I was appointed BHL Program Director, officially taking up the role in a few weeks.

It would also turn out to be the last BHL meeting for Chris Freeland as Technical Director as he took a new position at Washington University later in the year.

Connie, Tom, and Cathy

Tom at the Blackboard

Graham and Nancy Gwinn, Smithsonian Libraries

Group photo on the steps of the MCZ

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)