Innovation on Land and at Sea

Lots of innovation takes place behind the scenes here in Invertebrate Zoology (IZ), and the department’s collections staff drives many of these new practices. For example, Linda Ward and Karen Reed are piloting a new image-based management practice that builds on the utility the FileMaker suite to enable data uploading into the Electronic Museum (EMu) database. Volunteer Jennifer Soucy (alongside volunteers Gabriela Lujan and Georgia Tschen) is working closely with this team, while research zoologist Karen Osborn has piloted the system in the field. 

 

Using image-based practices to catalogue old specimens

The IZ collections contain thousands of specimens that were never catalogued, for various reasons (check out a snapshot of the 30,000 hyperiid amphipods in the backlog!). Thousands more specimens received United States National Museum (USNM) numbers but have not been entered into EMu. Inputting all of these specimens in EMu is a massive task, which is why the team has adopted this image-based practice.

1. The backlog of uncatalogued specimens in IZ's collections includes these 30,000 or so hyperiid amphipods, which fill this entire row, among many, many more.

Here, Jennifer walks us through the process. First, the uncatalogued specimen lots are pulled from the collection shelves. Next, Jennifer works through each lot, opening the containers and pulling all of the old labels out; the labels are paired with a newly printed USNM catalogue number, which will stay with the lot. Each label/catalogue number pair is photographed (see photo) using an iPad, from within a FileMaker Go database. Then, the images are exported from FileMaker and uploaded to EMu. This file includes the image containing all of the information on the labels. In the near future, volunteers will transcribe the text from the images into the EMu database.

2. An example iPad photo of a set of old labels accompanying a previously uncatalogued IZ specimen, with the new USNM catalogue number. The text in this image will later be extracted by volunteers and entered into the EMu database.

This image-based practice significantly streamlines the process of cataloguing these specimens, because all of the information for specimen lots can be collected at once, and then the skeleton EMu catalogue files can be filled out at a later point in time. Linda first started using this technique years ago so that she wouldn’t have to transfer specimens between the IZ collections in the National Museum of Natural History building and the off-site Museum Support Center – all she had to do was take image files of specimens and their tags with her.

 

Supporting field-based cataloguing

Karen Osborn tried out Linda’s method this summer on her cruise with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, representing another dimension to innovative collections management practices in IZ. Karen took a set of pre-printed USNM numbers with her, and modified her existing specimen workup process to include a step where she images each new specimen with the USNM catalogue number (a red jelly is pictured as an example). Karen always records specimens in a field log. In this case, Karen’s log also included USNM catalogue numbers, which usually wouldn’t be added until back at the museum.

3. This specimen of Pandea rubra was photographed with its USNM catalogue number in the field, as part of Karen Osborn's field-pilot of the new image-based collections management technique.

From Karen’s perspective, the method definitely helped streamline the process, and offers a convenient way to “view” her specimens from her office, without having to go to the collections. She plans to use the method on her next cruise.

 

Meet Jennifer!

4. With a background in archeology and art history, volunteer Jennifer Soucy really enjoys her position in IZ, because she regularly handles historical artifacts from the NMNH collections.

Volunteer Jennifer Soucy has degrees in archeology and art history. This Boston transplant admits that invertebrate zoology seems an unlikely stop in a culture-centric career. However, the training provided on EMu is an extremely attractive part of this volunteer position, because collections management database skills are valuable throughout the museum field.

As Jennifer sees it, the bonus from this experience has been its unexpected archeological nature: the sense of discovery upon opening each specimen vial excites Jennifer every time. Jennifer observes that some vials contain handwritten labels in elegant cursive, dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Jennifer likens these little discoveries to IZ's own version of King Tut's tomb. 

 

by Liz Boatman and Jennifer Soucy