TOWARDS DEMAND DRIVEN PUBLISHING: APPROCHES TO THE PRIORITISATION OF DIGITISATION OF NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS DATA

Natural history collections represent a vast repository of biodiversity data of international significance. There is an imperative to capture the data through digitisation projects in order to expose the data to new and established users of biodiversity data. On the basis of review of current state of digitization of natural history collections, a demand driven approach is advocated through the use of metadata to promote and increase access to natural history collection data

Bridging the biodiversity data gaps: Recommendations to meet users’ data needs

A strong case has been made for freely available, high quality data on species occurrence, in order to track changes in biodiversity. However, one of the main issues surrounding the provision of such data is that sources vary in quality, scope, and accuracy. Therefore publishers of such data must face the challenge of maximizing quality, utility and breadth of data coverage, in order to make such data useful to users. Here, we report a number of recommendations that stem from a content need assessment survey conducted by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Through this survey, we aimed to distil the main user needs regarding biodiversity data. We find a broad range of recommendations from the survey respondents, principally concerning issues such as data quality, bias, and coverage, and extending ease of access. We recommend a candidate set of actions for the GBIF that fall into three classes: 1) addressing data gaps, data volume, and data quality, 2) aggregating new kinds of data for new applications, and 3) promoting ease-of-use and providing incentives for wider use. Addressing the challenge of providing high quality primary biodiversity data can potentially serve the needs of many international biodiversity initiatives, including the new 2020 biodiversity targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the emerging global biodiversity observation network (GEO BON), and the new Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

Contributions to conservation outcomes by natural history museum-led citizen science: Examining evidence and next steps

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Contributions to conservation outcomes by natural history museum-led citizen science: Examining evidence and next steps journaltitle: Biological Conservation articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.08.040 content_type: article copyright: © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.The file attached is the published version of the article

Biodiversity and Biocollections: Problem of Correspondence

This text is an English translation of those several sections of the original paper in Russian, where collection-related issues are considered. The full citation of the original paper is as following: Pavlinov I.Ya. 2016. [Bioraznoobrazie i biokollektsii: problema sootvetstvia]. In: Pavlinov I.Ya. (comp.). Aspects of Biodiversity. Archives of Zoological Museum of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vol. 54, Pр. 733–786. Orientation of biology, as a natural science, on the study and explanation of the similarities and differences between organisms led in the second half of the 20th century to the recognition of a specifi c subject area of biological explorations, viz. biodiversity (BD). One of the important general scientifi c prerequisites for this shift was understanding that (at the level of ontology) the structured diversity of the living nature is its fundamental property equivocal to subjecting of some of its manifestations to certain laws. At the level of epistemology, this led to acknowledging that the “diversifi cationary” approach to description of the living beings is as justifi able as the before dominated “unifi cationary” one. This general trend has led to a signifi cant increase in the attention to BD. From a pragmatic perspective, its leitmotif was conservation of BD as a renewable resource, while from a scientifi c perspective the leitmotif was studying it was studying BD as a specifi c natural phenomenon. These two points of view are united by recognition of the need for scientific substantiation of BD conservation strategy, which implies the need for a detailed study of BD itself. At the level of ontology, one of the key problems in the study of BD (leaving aside the question of its genesis) is determination of its structure, which is interpreted as a manifestation of the structure of the Earth’s biota itself. With this, it is acknowledged that the subject area of empirical explorations is not the BD as a whole ( “Umgebung”) but its particular manifestations (“Umwelts”). It is proposed herewith to recognized, within the latter: fragments of BD (especially taxa and ecosystems), hierarchical levels of BD (primarily within- and interorganismal ones), and aspects of BD (before all taxonomic and meronomic ones). Attention is drawn to a new interpretation of bioinformatics as a discipline that studies the information support of BD explorations. An important fraction of this support are biocollections. The scientifi c value of collections means that they make it possible both empirical inferring and testing (verification) of the knowledge about BD. This makes biocollections, in their epistemological status, equivalent to experiments, and so makes studies of BD quite scientific. It is emphasized that the natural objects (naturalia), which are permanently kept in collections, contain primary (objective) information about BD, while information retrieved somehow from them is a secondary (subjective) one. Collection, as an information resource, serves as a research sample in the studies of BD. Collection pool, as the totality of all collection materials kept in repositories according to certain standards, can be treated as a general sample, and every single collection as a local sample. The main characteristic of collection-as-sample is its representativeness; so the basic strategy of development of the collection pool is to maximize its representativeness as a means to ensure correspondence of structure of biocollection pool to that of BD itself. The most fundamental characteristic of collection, as an information resource, is its scientific signifi cance. The following three main groups of more particular characteristics are distinguished: — the “proper” characteristics of every collection are its meaningfulness, informativeness, reliability, adequacy, documenting, systematicity, volume, structure, uniqueness, stability, lability; — the “external” characteristics of collection are resolution, usability, ethic constituent; — the “service” characteristics of collection are its museofication, storage system security, inclusion in metastructure, cost. In the contemporary world, development of the biocollection pool, as a specific resource for BD research, requires considerable organizational efforts, including work on their “information support” aimed at demonstrating the necessity of existence of the biocollections

UT Digital Repository: 13-14 Annual Report

UT Librarie

Doctoral Colloquium

The 2015 iConference Doctoral Colloquium is made possible in part by a generous grant from the National Science Foundation (#1519338). Additional funding was provided by the iSchools.Ope

Content Preservation and Digitization of Maps Housed in the KU Natural History Museum Division of Archaeology: An Analysis of Opportunities and Obstacles

This paper was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Museum Studies.The purpose of this research is to explain the obstacles museums face in preserving map collections, as well as the steps museums can take to overcome these obstacles. The research begins with a brief history of paper conservation of maps in museums and libraries, and digitization of maps. Next, there is an explanation of the theoretical framework/approach that is used in this project. Following that is a presentation of a SWOT analysis of the archaeological map collection held by the KU Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum. The first two components of the SWOT analysis, strengths and weaknesses, focus on advantages and shortcomings of the collection in its current state. The last two components, opportunities and threats, focus respectively on the benefits that can be expected from preserving the map collection, and the obstacles that may hinder process. Finally, the study outlines a procedure for preserving and digitizing the archaeological maps held by the KU Biodiversity Institute, in order to expand accessibility to the collection

Historical Considerations in Biodiversity Informatics

Historical collections of biological specimens are potentially rich sources of data for contemporary researchers. However, many technical issues have to be addressed in order to make these collections widely available. This paper reports on a qualitative study of historical and current data practices at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, which is seeking wider understanding of the historical dimensions of specimen metadata, in order to support migration to more global standards. A detailed case study of a single specimen shows how that specimen has been described in multiple ways and in multiple locations within the Academy, and the historically complex nature of the data and metadata contained in these descriptions.ye

Nature’s Stories Preserved in Museums: The value and utility of Natural History Collections for Ecology, Biogeography, and Biodiversity.

Natural history collections are hosed in very important institutions called museums, and they play an essential role in documenting species and to let people be educated about ecology, biogeography, and conservation processes. Through the use and digitation of collections, I worked on projects that utilized digitized data using scientific collections from Ecuador and the US (UNRMNH and the McGuire Center) to examine traits related to thermoregulation processes. I also examined land use and habitat change of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) across different gradients based on museum specimens. I have identified the main variables influencing dung beetle distribution in Ecuador based on a niche model, finding also high turnover levels in functional groups at larger scales, suggesting that dung beetles show high levels of habitat specialization in Ecuador, providing an essential framework for evaluating potential dung beetle habitat and diversity at different scales. We also implemented an analysis to determine if agroforestry systems support biodiversity in the tropics, using Dung Bettles as a model, we determined that agroforestry production systems are potentially important for maintenance of insect species richness and ecosystem functioning and could be viable alternative conservation systems and biological corridors. Also, by using digitation methods I was able to determine that western Skippers (Hesperiidae) do not follow Bogert’s rule which states that dark coloration in ectotherms becomes beneficial when ambient temperatures are low, allowing faster heating rates and higher body temperatures than in lighter‐colored individuals; instead, their color could be an immune response or crypsis for predator protection. The same digitation methos allowed me to create a workflow for specimens at the UNRMNH that provides a framework for efficient and faster digitization protocols

Sustaining Indigenous knowledge through the digitization of information on Herbal Medicine in Medical libraries in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects.

This study examined the concept of herbal medicine and the need for supporting Indigenous knowledge through the digitalization of information on the accumulation and transmission of herbal healing practices from generation to generation. It examined the relevance of digitizing herbal medicine information in order to sustain and conserve this unique information. The digitalization of library health information also raises readers\u27 attention. In addition, the organization is responsible for permanent storage and documentation of information resources, in particular health information. This research examined the strategic importance of medical libraries. It described how medical libraries could be crucial in digitizing indigenous herbal knowledge to protect them against the threat of extinction. The article also emphasized the challenges and potential of digitizing Herbal Medicine Information in Nigeria\u27s medical libraries and presented practical solutions