Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL):A Global Resource for Open Access

Scientific Literature

Chris FreelandDirector, Center for Biodiversity Informatics,

Missouri Botanical Garden

Technical Director, Biodiversity Heritage Library

@chrisfreeland

#bhlib

http://biodiversitylibrary.org

@BioDivLibrary

Biodiversity Heritage Library…

• is an international consortium of the world’s leading natural history libraries.

• scans, stores & serves books, journals & other materials from partners’ holdings.

• works with publishers and other rights-holders to obtain permission for digitizing & aggregating in-copyright materials.

• makes its data available for free via open access principles: http://biodiversitylibrary.org

http://biodiversitylibrary.org

BHL Stats

• > 34.5 million pages• > 92,000 volumes– Avg 1.25” spine width– 1.8mi / 2.9km of shelving…and growing daily

Usage • ~ 4 million page views a year• 400,000 unique visitors a year

Biodiversity Heritage Library: A Global Partnership

http://bhl.ala.org.au/

http://bhl.ala.org.au/

Global BHL Meeting

22-24 Sep 2010, Woods Hole

Preservation of digital resources

Need heterogeneity & diversity to ensure long-term, sustained access. Accomplish this by managing digital resources:

• Across multiple geographic locations• Under multiple administrations• With different technologies

Want a meadow… …not a monoculture.

San Francisco

Woods Hole

London

Alexandria

Beijing

Global BHL Replication & ServingReplicated Data Center Portal Application

IBC18: Electronic publication• Right on! • So…now what?• Whose challenge is it to solve?– Libraries?– Publishers?– Individuals?

• BHL doesn’t have all the answers, but collectively we have:– Experience & guidance to share– Systems & infrastructure – Global partnerships

All of us, together

Life & Literature Conference

14-15 Nov 2011, Chicago, USA• Bringing together librarians, biologists, computer

scientists, publishers, students, and other stakeholders to set the agenda for biodiversity literature digitizing and its networked environment for the next five years.

– Active plenary– Poster session– Code challenge

Registration & more info:http://www.lifeandliterature.org

@life_lit

Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL):A Global Resource for Open Access

Scientific Literature

Chris FreelandDirector, Center for Biodiversity Informatics,

Missouri Botanical Garden

Technical Director, Biodiversity Heritage Library

@chrisfreeland

#bhlib

http://biodiversitylibrary.org

@BioDivLibrary

DISCUSSION