This poster session describes how the Albert R. Mann Library at Cornell University collaborated with the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) to create a digital collection of rare books and journals on the theme of apples and cider during Cornell Reunion 2018. Attendees will learn how on-the-ground exhibits and activities can be transformed and promoted online while leveraging the collection strengths of other institutions. BHL is a consortium of natural history and botanical libraries that cooperate to digitize the literature of biodiversity held in their collections, making it freely available as a part of a global “biodiversity commons.” Staff from Mann and BHL created “Pomology: Apples and Cider” with two dozen of Cornell’s finest rare pomological titles digitized for the collection. Other titles in the ~22,000 page collection were scanned from the collections of libraries at NC State, U. California, Library of Congress, NY Botanical Garden, National Agricultural Library, Prelinger Library, Boston Public, Chicago Botanic Garden, Harvard, UMass Amherst, U. Toronto, Missouri Botanical Garden, Smithsonian and the Wellcome Library. Working closely together, staff from Mann and BHL planned the event from every angle to create in-person experiences on campus as well as virtual experiences worldwide. This effort brought together exhibits (physical and virtual), a lecture by a leading expert on cider apples (streamed live on Facebook and archived online), a cider tasting event, a detailed BHL blog post on a selected historic title and online highlights via Flickr, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. The fruits of this collaboration were increased interest in the collections, wider exposure and greater networking opportunities for researchers and cider enthusiasts, and more awareness of the rich, deep collections offered for free via the Biodiversity Heritage Library’s collection and mission to the public – an ideal match for the mission of a Land Grant institution library such as ours.
