Biodiversity Heritage Library for Europe – Towards a global library of life
Managed by the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, an ambitious and innovative EU
project started on 1 May 2009. The ’Biodiversity Heritage Library for Europe‘ (BHLEurope) has a total budget of €3.4 million and will last for three years. More than 60
scientists, librarians and IT specialists attended the Kick-off meeting between 10-15
May 2009 at the Museum für Naturkunde. Altogether, 28 institutions from 14
countries are working towards a global library of life.
An important impediment for the implementation of the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) of the United Nations is the lack of access to core information on
animals and plants. This information is concentrated in the scientific books and
journals of the past centuries. At the moment, the only way to access to this
knowledge is to visit a number of different libraries. This complicates much of the
fundamental research in biological science. Since 2007, the Biodiversity Heritage
Library has been systematically removing this impediment by making this literature
available over the Web. BHL-Europe will now further develop, expand, and enhance
the Biodiversity Heritage Library by bringing together the extensive collections of
biodiversity literature held in major European natural history, botanical, and research
libraries. As part of the project, a multilingual software interface will be developed
enabling users to search in their native language. Innovative search functionality
facilitates quick access to all of the information required by the user. In addition to the
biodiversity community Portal, all the literature will be accessible through the
European Digital Library - EUROPEANA. The wider public, citizen scientists, and
decision makers will have unlimited access to these important sources of information.
Everybody will be able to get first-hand information on animals and plants study rare
original works of important scientists like Charles Darwin or Alexander von Humboldt,
and admire artwork in publications from the 17th or 18th century. Conservation
organisations will have a tool to collect data on rare or threatened species in order to
better plan protective actions. Other applications are possible and much more
information will be available in the future.
Contact:
Dr. Henning Scholz, Project Coordinator
Phone +49(0)30 2093 8864
Fax +49(0)30 2093 8868
E-mail henning.scholz@mfn-berlin.de