Introduction: Reimagining BHL
Nicole Kearney · BHL at 20: A New Chapter for Biodiversity Literature and Data - Reimagining BHL: Foundations, Partnerships and Future Infrastructure
The short versionBHL at 20 has a new independent foundation but an unsecured future, and the symposium seeks ideas to shape what comes next.
What this was about
Nicole Kearney, BHL communications director, opened the BHL at 20 symposium with a recap of her previous-day talk: over 18 months BHL moved from being hosted administratively and technically by the Smithsonian Institution to an independent, globally governed consortium with new financial and legal homes, new technical hosting, strengthened governance, new members and a modernisation effort. She stressed that BHL's long-term future is not yet secure, outlined the two sessions' talks, and invited the audience to challenge ideas about BHL's next chapter.
Why it matters. Provides the institutional context for the BHL talks: a major infrastructure's transition and search for sustainability.
In the room
- 2026 is BHL's 20th anniversary and the beginning of a new chapter.
- BHL has a new financial home, legal home and technical hosting after leaving Smithsonian hosting.
- BHL described as a 'living bridge' still being built.
- Extra discussion time was available because her talk moved to the taster session.
Notable moments
Transcript
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Related talks.
Building a New Foundation for the Biodiversity Heritage Library
BHL has survived losing its Smithsonian home by becoming an independent, globally governed consortium, but its future is still not secure and it needs community support.
SYM08A closing discussion: sustaining and connecting the BHL ecosystem
Focusing on core functions made GBIF and BHL successful; sustaining the connected ecosystem now requires clear value statements and machine interfaces such as MCP servers.
Discussion: designing institutional biodiversity knowledge and data science centres
Interoperable institutional knowledge spaces depend less on technology than on people, shared storage and semantics, incentives and governance.