Constance Rinaldo
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Chair, Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bio: Constance Rinaldo was the Librarian of the Ernst Mayr http://library.mcz.harvard.edu/ of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University from 199-2021. She is a founding member (2005) of the Biodiversity Heritage Library, working with an international consortium of natural history and botanical libraries in the digitization of taxonomic literature. She has served as Secretary and Vice-Chair (current position) of the BHL Executive Committee. Connie presents and publishes for library and biodiversity-related conferences, covering topics related to collection policies and assessment, digitization, digital libraries, linking scientific endeavors with libraries and archives, and the awesomeness of BHL. She has been active in a variety of library organizations. Connie has a BA in Biology and Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, an MSc in Zoology from the University of Connecticut and an MLS from the University of Maryland. Before Harvard, Connie spent 10 years as the Head of Collections in the Biomedical Libraries at Dartmouth College and along with her MLS work, was an assistant in the National Text Digitizing project at the National Agricultural Library, an early digitization project. Connie also worked with the Digital Library for Earth Systems Education (DLESE), analyzing collections. Connie is passionate about biodiversity and natural history and working with local, national and global partners to make library collections connected, open and accessible for all.