Fostering Data Driven Natural Science through Open Digital Libraries

For the 2023 BHL Annual Meeting, a symposium will be held at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN) on 19 April 2023. The conference/symposium will be open to all attendees of the BHL Annual Meeting as well as others from the biodiversity community. Recent years have witnessed a spectacular increase of data available for research, through either digital conversion or in born digital form vastly increasing outcomes based on data driven science. In natural sciences, especially in taxonomy and systematics, this new data forward context has allowed for the emergence of the concept of “digital specimen”, where a digital representation of a physical specimen is linked to additional information stored in external databases. Documents from digital libraries, particularly the Biodiversity Heritage Library, rank among the most relevant data for taxonomy and systematics. This literature includes key data points such as first descriptions, occurrences, specimen information, morphology, illustrations, and other key information. However, digital libraries with these data are often silos or are unable to provide data under FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles. Opening up these silos and building bridges between platforms necessitates various efforts, including the provision of persistent identifiers, structured metadata, and access via automated protocols and APIs. These efforts towards interoperability foster the creation of important biodiversity networks, from the local (individual institutions) through national and international networks, bringing together librarians, researchers, and computer scientists to increase access to data that supports a thriving and sustainable planet. This conference intends to promote the sharing of knowledge between experts from different countries, different contexts and different professional backgrounds.