SYM08A closing discussion: sustaining and connecting the BHL ecosystem
Nicole Kearney · BHL at 20: A New Chapter for Biodiversity Literature and Data - Reimagining BHL: Foundations, Partnerships and Future Infrastructure
The short versionFocusing on core functions made GBIF and BHL successful; sustaining the connected ecosystem now requires clear value statements and machine interfaces such as MCP servers.
What this was about
In the short general discussion, an audience member drew an analogy with eBird, which deliberately excluded species identification until Merlin was built separately and later connected, arguing that GBIF's and BHL's early focus on core requirements explains their success. The challenge now is sustaining all the pieces: they suggested MCP servers so agents can stitch infrastructures together, leveraging institutions with overlapping missions (like USF), and each stakeholder articulating value statements to convince their institutions to sustain the relevant parts.
Why it matters. It connects infrastructure scope decisions with long-term sustainability and future AI-agent access.
In the room
- eBird kept identification out initially; Merlin was developed separately and later connected, a model for iNaturalist.
- GBIF scaling back to its core was why it succeeded; BHL likewise focused on being a library.
- Others (e.g. NHM) now build knowledge graphs on BHL.
- MCP servers could let agents connect the infrastructures.
- Users and funders need to understand how infrastructures enable their work.
Notable moments
Transcript
Automatically generated captions can contain mistakes, especially in names and technical terms. Times are relative to the room recording.
Read the transcript ↓
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