Abstract Detail

A Single Symbiota-based Herbarium Network for the US

Barkworth, Mary [1], Buckley, Steve [2].

Funding and Organization Issues.

The biggest problem that biodiversity informatics networks face is funding. Funding is neededfor digitization, maintenance of existing networks, and for adding new abilities to existing network software. Forming a single, Symbiota-based, herbarium network will not lead to an immediate increase in funding. However, it will lead to an effective increase as the duplicate discovery, georeferencing, and feedback tools already integrated into Symbiota become available across all US herbaria, not just within a network. Maintenance and updating of the taxonomic backbone of individual networks could be made easier through this economy of scale. Maintenance costs might not be substantially lower in the short-term but, in the long term, management of a single network could increase efficiency and enable beneficial specialization. Moreover, many potential donors would find supporting maintenance of a national network more appealing than supporting disconnected partial networks. Forming a single network would also make it easier to provide high quality data on the progress US herbaria are making in digitizing existing collections and integrating digitization into their standard operating procedures and on usage of the data. This would aid in seeking support. Lastly, with a fund for maintenance in place, new proposals could focus on integrating new entities and abilities into Symbiota. Organizationally, there would need to be a governing board to advise and oversee development of the network. Such an board should include representatives from multiple user groups in addition to herbaria and their staff. In developing the board, consideration should be give to providing voting rights only to those providing financial support.

1 - Utah State University, Department Of Biology, 5305 OLD MAIN HILL, Logan, UT, 84322-5305, USA
2 - National Park Service, Lassen Volcanic National Park, PO Box 100, Mineral, CA, 96063, USA

Keywords:
digitized herbarium data
National network
Funding
Organization.

Presentation Type: Colloquium Presentations
Session: CO2, A Single, Symbiota-based Herbarium Network for the US
Location: Sundance 2/Omni Hotel
Date: Tuesday, June 27th, 2017
Time: 10:30 AM
Number: CO2008
Abstract ID:526
Candidate for Awards:None