Just a quick post to give everyone an update about the Biodiversity Heritage Library. For those new to these parts, the Biodiversity Heritage Library is a consortium of 12 major natural history museum libraries, botanical libraries, and research institutions organized to digitize, serve, and preserve the legacy literature of biodiversity. The Academy Library is proud to be one of these institutions, and I've blogged a bit about our participation in the past here and here. Here's an example of the fantastic literature (and pretty pictures) you can access for FREE at http://biodiversitylibrary.org.
Geospiza strenua, from The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. Image courtesy Biodiversity Heritage Library. http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org
This week brought two BHL tidbits I'd like to share: 1) The BHL is conducting a user survey to help us serve you better. If you've used the BHL at all in the past, please take our survey. It will take 5-10 minutes of your time and help us immensely. Thanks in advance! Also, if you follow me on Twitter @tiny_librarian, feel free to retweet my latest update on the survey. 2) The BHL was selected by the American Library Association's Office for Library Advocacy as the Digital Library of the Week! We're in good company, joining honorees such as the Cornell University Library Witchcraft Collection and On the Edge: The Hidden Art of Fore-Edge Book Painting from the Boston Public Library. While we accept accolades in all forms, we also really want you tell us where we need improvement. Ten minutes of your time now means a better BHL in the future!