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Current Trends in Biodiversity Collection Description. Neil Thomson The Natural History Museum. Summary. Characteristics of biodiversity collections Collection descriptions at the NHM UK and European initiatives The wider picture – international and global initiatives Challenges.
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Current Trends in Biodiversity Collection Description Neil Thomson The Natural History Museum
Summary • Characteristics of biodiversity collections • Collection descriptions at the NHM • UK and European initiatives • The wider picture – international and global initiatives • Challenges
Biodiversity Collections • Types of biodiversity collection • Value of collections • Benefits of data sharing • Who are the users?
Institutional Level • Collections and databases at the NHM • CLD project
Reasons for CLD at the NHM • "Access to collections" initiative. • Speedier coverage than at item level • Verbose records, complementing databases. • Recording information provided by visitors • Detailed records for researchers / audit • Cross-searching of ALL collections at the NHM • Strategic planning • Re-uniting scattered collections • Provides data for external initiatives
National Level • Fenscore • National Biodiversity Network • BioCASE National Nodes • contain records for biological collections in the country whether or not a database exists. • NHM is the UK National Node
The BioCASE Collection-Level Profile • 3 levels • Collection • Organisation • Network • 4 main data blocks • Descriptive • Adminstrative • Keywords • Related
What does it look like? • Currently at a very early stage of development. • Software provided by Berlin Botanic Garden, based on a metadata profile developed at the NHM. • Pre-seeded with data from the earlier BioCISE project. • Little data for each collection and mainly free text.
European Level • BioCASE • Framework V funded • 3 year project ending October 2004 • 31 participating countries • Coordinated by the Berlin Botanic Garden
Two-level access • BioCASE caters for information at unit level (specimen or observation) as well as at collection level. • Unit-level records will be accessed directly in participating databases. • Collection-level records will be accessed through each country’s National Node.
International & Global Levels • ABCD • Access to Biological Collections Data • Adds North America and Australia • GBIF • Global Biodiversity Information Facility • Promoting the use of global data standards
Challenges • Addressing the needs of different audiences • Organism names • Place names • Getting the data