April 16, 2009 BHL Executive Conference Call

BHL Executive Conference Call April 16, 2009
Tom, Graham, Chris, Connie, Cathy

NLM system called MARS (medical article record system) that has some automated markup of articles. Chris will investigate.

Working on budget projections for EOL funders need it for submission for next round of funding. We need a high, medium and bare bones estimates. Connie noted that local scanning cost input from EML is already way more than what is in the spreadsheet--she is working on figures. Graham suggested that an assumption should be added for inflation and 3% is more realistic. Graham asked about equipment storage--this is still in flux so it is an estimate as a placeholder. Storage at the Smithsonian is not a foregone conclusion. There is some concern about the averaging of the costs of storage--it is likely to be inconsistent. Graham noted that this should be noted in the assumptions so that it is clear. Generally seems reasonable.

Graham noted that we have to move on the strategic plan. Need to be able to move quickly and have promotional documentation and a business plan that we can circulate as opportunities arise. Tom and Elizabeth are supposed to be working on this. In next two weeks--formal public version of the strategic plan that is available to all. Next we need a more glossy, illustrated brochure in time for e-biosphere. Tom has a designer ready. Strategic plan with a half day's work and some design help will become a great brochure.

Cathy reviewed the work that Connie, Elizabeth and Doug did on the membership document--nearly there. We will have to look at governance eventually but as we review the criteria for membership this will come up. If we get no more money from outside, the costs will fall on the members thus members have to step up and pay. Is this an issue for libraries or their organizations? One of the reasons BHL had the institution sign the agreement, not just the libraries, was to highlight this problem. We need examples of how BHL has been used and how it furthers active research, not just a repository.

Sayeed Choudhury, Assoc Dir JHU Library and PI on DataNet grant, is open to the idea of BHL being hosted on the datanet site for datamining and research use. This would be great PR for us and help with various bids--Graham suggested we get a letter from him. We have to wait until the funding comes through and is public.

Chris asked if Taxonfinder 2j evaluation is underway. Cathy said it is on the agenda and Ahmed has been moved to the infectious disease grant. Chris said he could continue evaluation of this with Chen or another student. Chris also asked about the rollout of the Cite article repository. Bianca has been working with library staff for feedback. Tom and Chris have been getting scientist feedback (e.g. Rod Page). Next week Chris will meet with Decapod folks and they are looking for something to use for their EOL funded work. Chris wants a limited beta version ready for e-biosphere to get good, focused feedback. Public version ready for TDWG (October in Montpellier, France). Graham suggested a small poster for e-biosphere plus pull groups together for a chat--breakout session? More informal networking at e-biosphere.

Cathy asked how this will integrate with LifeDesk. Paddy and Chris met and worked up what needs to do. BHL will accept more content than EOL will. We will want all citations that are in LifeDesk. We will feed info to EOL but not LifeDesk. Graham suggested that what might be handy for next week's steering committee is a flow chart. Why take just citations? Helps find even if we don't have full text. The decapod and formis list--we had already scanned a lot. The citations can be the pre-articleized search tool. Cite provides search and browse. Can do a good search in Cite and then the links will direct into the BHL portal.

Using the pdf generator, people have been creating pdfs. Mike L. extracted all the metadata for those created. Bianca checked a statistically random sample of the 800 and analyzed these (complete article, species description, a few pages of a book). Analysis is on the blog. Metadata isn't perfectly formulated but it is a first pass and it is usable.

Next call Tuesday April 28 11 AM EST, 10 AM CST, 4 pm GMT

Constance Rinaldo, Librarian of the Ernst Mayr Library
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University,
26 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA 02138
voice: 617-495-4576; fax: 617-496-6838
email: crinaldo@fas.harvard.edu
http://library.mcz.harvard.edu

"To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country or seaside stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall" Thomas Henry Huxley
The Ernst Mayr Library is part of the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) project which is digitizing the biodiversity literature for open access:http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/