Global Biodiversity Heritage Library

The third global Biodiversity Heritage Library meeting took place in Berlin, Germany on June 7-8, 2012, hosted by Henning Scholz at  the Museum fur Naturkunde. We covered many important issues during these two days. Representatives attended from the BHL (represented by several institutions in the US and UK), BHLEurope (represented by several institutions in the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Czech Republic and Austria), BHLEgypt (represented by Noha Adley from the Bibliotheca Alexandrina), BHL Australia (represented by Elicia Wallis from the Museum of Victoria) and BHL SciELO (represented by Abel Packer and Fabio Batalha from SciELO in Brazil). Chinese colleagues were unable to attend.
Each global group reported on the state of the BHL in their region. By-laws and a governance structure were approved. Officers were elected for the Executive Committee: Elicia Wallis, Museum Victoria, Australia, Chair; Henning Scholz, Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin, Vice-Chair; and Nancy Gwinn, Smithsonian Libraries (and BHL Executive Chair), Secretary. Noha Adley from the Bibliotheca Alexandrina was appointed as the global BHL Technical Director. We also discussed how to synchronize BHL data, avoid duplication, address global copyright issues and ensure metadata quality across the regions.
Each region has put its own stamp on their version of the BHL.
The global BHL currently has nodes in Europe, Egypt, China, Brazil, US/UK, and Australia. Following the global BHL meeting, a several members of the Smithsonian, MOBOT, and Field Museum teams continued on to meet African colleagues in South Africa to establish BHL Africa. Chris Freeland, BHL Technical Director was unable to attend the BHL Europe, Global BHL and BHL Africa meetings due to a bike accident.  He never rests, however, and made an amazing video statement to encourage a BHL Africa