bhl-africa: scanning locally, collaborating...
TRANSCRIPT
BHL-Africa: scanning locally, collaborating globally
AN EXTENSIVE AND VAST LIBRARY
The cultivation of natural science cannot be efficiently carried on without reference to an extensive library Charles Darwin, et al (1847)
WHO ARE WE?
• Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) 2006 was created with a
common goal
• Includes both pre-Linnean (> 1753) contemporary volumes and
digitally born material
• Up to date BHL has globally aggregates nearly 46 million pages
of biodiversity literature
• 2009 Global initiative launched
• www.biodiversitylibrary.org
VAST LIBRARY OF LIFE
GLOBAL PROJECT INVOLVES TECHNOLOGY, LIBRARIES AND
SCIENCE
FLICKR AND BHL
WHERE ARE WE IN AFRICA?
• BHL Africa launched in April 2013
• 3 Regions: Western and Central Africa, Eastern Africa and Southern Africa
• Open access
• Collaboration
• Transparency
WHAT DO WE DO?
• Digitize biodiversity literature not available from other BHL global nodes
• Create an awareness of Africa’s variety of biodiversity material
• Digitize significant content relevant to African biodiversity
• Content Creation
• Audience Building
• Content Identification
• Partnership Building
• 3 year project
• 10 institutes in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa
• Main objectives: Capacity and content Extensive training Digitizing 200 000 pages of identified material Promoting BHLA in Africa
CURRENT PROJECTS IN BHL
• Connecting Content: A Collaboration to Link Field Notes & Published Literature
• The Art of Life: Data Mining & Crowdsourcing the Identification & Description of Natural History Illustrations from the Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Purposeful Gaming & BHL: engaging the public in improving & enhancing access to digital texts
• Digging into Data: Mining Biodiversity Project
WHY DOES BHL WORK?
• Same objective
• Passionate people
• BHL living example of what collaboration is
• Serves as a model for a large-scale curated digital library collection
• Jewel in the crown
THANK YOU