Oh Time, Thy Pyramids! The Biodiversity Heritage Library and the Unchaining of the Universal Library(?). Martin Kalfatovic. Information Futures Institute. Berkman Center for Internet & Society. April 12, 2008. Cambridge, MA.

1. Oh Time, Thy Pyramids! Martin R. Kalfatovic Smithsonian Institution Libraries 8 April 2008 The Biodiversity Heritage Library and the Unchaining of the Universal Library(?)‏

2. The cultivation of natural science cannot be efficiently carried on without reference to an extensive library Charles Darwin, et al. (1847)‏ Darwin, C. R. et al. 1847. Copy of Memorial to the First Lord of the Treasury [Lord John Russell], respecting the Management of the British Museum. Parliamentary Papers, Accounts and Papers 1847, paper number (268), volume XXXIV.253 (13 April): 1-3. [Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online]

5. Taxonomic Literature The cited half-life of publications in taxonomy is longer than in any other scientific discipline * * * The decay rate is longer than in any scientific discipline ~ Macro-economic case for open access Tom Moritz

6. BHL Timeline 2003. Telluride. Encyclopedia of Life meeting February 2005. London. Library and Laboratory: the Marriage of Research, Data and Taxonomic Literature May 2005. Washington. Ground work for the Biodiversity Heritage Library June 2006. Washington. Organizational and Technical meeting August 2006. New York Botanical Garden. BHL Director’s Meeting. October 2006. St. Louis/San Francisco. Technical meetings February 2007. Museum of Comparative Zoology. Organizational meeting May 2007. Encyclopedia of Life and BHL Portal Launch. Washington DC.

8. Structure of the Encyclopedia of Life Serine Molecule

9. Serine Molecule Synthesis Center Field Museum Biodiversity Heritage Library Species Pages & Secretariat Smithsonian Education & Outreach Smithsonian/Harvard Informatics Marine Biological Laboratory & MOBOT

10. BHL Members American Museum of Natural History (New York)‏ Field Museum (Chicago)‏ Natural History Museum (London)‏ Smithsonian Institution (Washington) Missouri Botanical Garden (St. Louis)‏ New York Botanical Garden (New York)‏

13. BHL Focus: Literature

14. BHL Focus: Literature

17. Vast, But Not Infinite So, yes, there's a not insignificant amount of content, by some accounts it's even vast, but by no means infinite!

19. Vast, But Not Infinite “ I assumed you packed the library in 1,000 volume boxes, each box having a capacity of precisely one cubic meter. All space to the farthest known spiral galaxies would not hold the Universal Library. In fact, you would need this volume of space so often that the number of packed universes would be a figure with only some 60 zeros less than the figure for the number of volumes… The figure is not infinite, it is a finite figure.” - Kurd Lasswitz, “The Universal Library.” 1901

20. Vast, But Not Infinite dsoydrebnefdsellnhvaaipevls oadisaedhoholnarmea dlhecrositnsoritln gdustoaeaeb ossibrseltlmlie ey f tkstmdd eoiicai ytjtymniemruincrerlrc kym sdgklemy ecc poslr nnpz lrmpdcgeebf tetlealnm ceekctn sa oseesese erlsede c rotoire nhndlidd irb nwsrpeedsrc tey a lbneeu epon e cv mm tjn tarreohaaosimnicuse lvyubsu gurec egrll gnruveielrreuie w izbegii tckrne aseieoogrmia hmiuhtydaesdat uketwe te mnha egs foueirr tirstnnyriytuodnar inaon itaonlaai osn ral fd nurroysceo rteepcrn nrswrdstlr dt beeod sracpope Oh tiempo tus pirámides irhesrksesan ueada cte osamnec u gn bri seo aaircdgir kgielddaltneasfsdi n rwtlira etgtu erdoi nnte poycd rmogn t rdaebodpc ha tcl asrlceao usc tiosdrbaesci retiigvnooneeoe e m a b y fcoiihlha dcguo cdiem o pnz aitfehn sigtssipc isa seemue edk aerbgelgninbe n d aboaarlsdpd ele felr “ La biblioteca de Babel” by Jorge Luis Borges, 1941

21. A Universal Library for Life In any well-appointed Natural History Library there should be found every book and every edition of every book dealing in the remotest way with the subjects concerned. Charles Davies Sherborn, Epilogue to Index Animalium , March 1922

22. Uh, well, we did it. We're done. Glad to have been of assistance Thanks for the fish!

25. Status Update: Encomiums It's beautiful, with intimidating scope, and it makes me feel optimistic just musing on the implications of how librarians and scientists and IT wizards and artists have gathered valuable images and text (multilingual) and made them freely available in this elegant interface. http://tinyurl.com/5mdtyq

26. Status Update: Encomiums I’ve been trying for weeks to think of something interesting and relevant to say about this way cool database, the Biodiversity Heritage Library, but I haven’t really come up with anything more than “this is way cool! Go look at it!”. http://tinyurl.com/6ctfgz

29. So, uh, where's the Librarian? The dodo is an extinct flightless bird, once a native of the island of Mauritius. The dodo was brilliantly adapted to its environment. ... but the environment changed ... First described in 1598, it was gone by 1681. Rapid change without adaptation leads to extinction.

31. Changed Priorities Ahead For the Snark's a peculiar creature, that won't Be caught in a commonplace way. Do all that you know, and try all that you don't: Not a chance must be wasted to-day! ~ Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark (1874)‏

32. Change: Reasonable or Unreasonable? The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man George Bernard Shaw Man and Superman , “Maxims for Revolutionists” #23

36. What Should a Librarian Be? In the anticipated symbiotic partnership, men will set the goals, formulate the hypotheses, determine the criteria, and perform the evaluations. Computing machines will do the routinizable work that must be done to prepare the way for insights and decisions in technical and scientific thinking. Preliminary analyses indicate that the symbiotic partnership will perform intellectual operations much more effectively than man alone can perform them. ~ J.C.R. Licklider. 1960. Man-Comptuer Symbiosis

37. And so ... The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it - Vannevar Bush (1945)‏

42. Thanks ... for sticking around!