The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is an international consortium working together to make 
biodiversity literature openly available to the world as part of a global biodiversity community.  
Through its extensive network of Members and Affiliates, over 45 million pages of biodiversity 
literature are now available through the BHL portal.  Eight Global BHL Nodes work with institutions 
in their regions of the world to build capacity for digitization and to promote open access to the 
biodiversity literature.

The Biodiversity Heritage Library has grown to be an important part of the infrastructure of 
biodiversity. In an attempt to solve the literature component of the taxonomic impediment, the BHL 
continues to provide access to legacy print publications and make this data widely available for 
reuse in collections support systems. Recognizing the importance of archival materials, specifically 
field notes, the BHL has moved to increase coverage of these materials through ongoing projects. 
Additionally, linking literature to species descriptions and other nomenclatural acts and the 
standards that surround them are important areas for BHL to explore.

This talk will focus on a general update of BHL activities, content aggregation, partnerships, 
technical development and related activities. The talk will also provide introduction and context for 
the remainder of the symposium panel.