April 4th

April 4th Conference Call

Proposed Agenda:
Notes:

On call: Martin, Susan, Nancy, Connie, William
Discussion on IC agenda planning. marint proposed to end day 2 at 3:30 to allow people time to get to airport, bus station, etc. Day 2 will include business meeting and discussion of financial status and how we will spend dues and donations looking forward; membership structure; and mission and vision statement.

Registration is now open for the meeting --there was a glitch in the Woods Hole registration system which is now working properly. Participants must register to dorm housing and food services through this system.. Tomoko Steen and Becky Morin will not be attending.

Discussion of challenges in scheduling these meetings as the group gets larger. Will put next years meeting on the agenda and try to return it to a March time slot.

Nancy announce that BHL received another award--from the Council of Botanical and Horticultural Libraries. Susan explained the Long Award is the highest honor awarded from CBHL - usually to an individual. This is the first time it is awarded to an organization. The committee was very impressed with the collaborative nature of BHL and with all that it has accomplished since its inception. The award announcement should be kept a secret until it is formally announced at the CBHL business meeting on May 10.
William gave technical updates - there have been some issues with the performance of the new UI particularly the author queries. Mike is trying to optimize. There have been some complaints about the pdf generator that they will look into. Users also want the contributing library to appear in the book viewer. Evaluating how this could be re-instated.
William and Mike also attended Global names meeting in Hawaii -- where there was a discussion with the main nomenclators or those organizations dealing with published names and what they required from BHL. ..and how to associate their registrations with the articles in BHL. Two months left on the project, would ask for no-cost extension.
BHL web stats have dropped dramatically since the launch of the new UI due to the new scripting method --which is more efficient (the counting methodology is different).

Nancy and Connie will go to South Africa next Tuesday and to the University of Pertoria on Wednesday to see their set up and offer congratulations on their accomplishments to date. Anne-Liese invited those attendees that were there for the 1st meeting. JRS surplice funds can be used to help fund the meeting and additional support from SANBI will be applied to support their attendance.

Connie presented a poster at the N.E. e-science conference which was well received. Another poster will be presented (by Kerri) in Baltimore at the RDAP =Research Data ??? meeting.