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