Bringing collections out of the dark.

Vladimir Blagoderov,Vincent Smith

doi:10.3897/zookeys.209.3699

Abstract

Bringing collections out of the dark.

Highlights

Natural history collections are an incomparable treasure and source of knowledge
Knowledge derived from the 1.5–3 billion specimens (Ariño 2010, Duckworth et al 1993) within these collections has made vital contributions to the study of taxonomy, systematics, invasive species, biological conservation, land management, pollination and biotic responses to climate change (Chapman 2005)
Collections digitisation is broadly defined to include transcription into electronic format of various types of data associated with specimens, the capture of digital images of specimens, and the georeferencing of specimen collecting localities. These steps are examined by Gill Nelson and colleagues (2012), who are quite literally based at the ‘hub’ of National Science Foundation efforts to advance the digitisation of North American biological collections in the United States

Summary

Introduction

Natural history collections are an incomparable treasure and source of knowledge. Collected over centuries of field exploration, these repositories contain a sample of the world’s biodiversity, and represent a monumental societal investment in research and applied environmental science (Network Integrated Biocollections Alliance 2010). Digitisation and mobilisation of specimen and associated data removes this impediment, but presents major technical and organisational challenges. Episodic and incremental funding has had limited success with natural history digitisation, largely addressing local projects within single institutions or across niche research communities.

Results

Conclusion