Abstract Detail

Systematics

Best, Jason H. [1], Rehman, Tiana F. [1], Fritsch, Peter W [1].

BRISC: BRIT Rapid Inventory of Specimen Collections.

Biological collections can benefit from an accurate inventory of the specimen holdings to prioritize digitization, expose specimens for scientific research, determine curatorial needs, and prioritize field work and acquisitions by identifying gaps in the collection. Unfortunately, many biocollection institutions have only rough estimates for the number and taxonomic and geographic scope of the items in their collections. To address the lack of a precise account of its own specimen holdings, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) conducted an inventory of its herbarium collections in 2015 using a purpose-built web application called the BRIT Rapid Inventory of Specimen Collections (BRISC). BRISC allows individuals with wireless tablets to inventory the contents of each cabinet, accounting for the number of specimens of each species as well as the geographic region of each specimen. The resulting dataset provides highly accurate details of a herbarium's holdings which can be published, queried, and analyzed to inform digitization strategies, curation prioritization, and research activity and to support justification for grant funding. Collection managers, curators, and researchers can formulate queries about the collection dataset to gain a deeper understanding of the composition of the collection on taxonomic, geographic, and quantitative levels. BRISC was developed with the use of the Django web framework and the Python programming language, and is released under an open-source license.

1 - Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Fort Worth, Texas, 76107-3400, United States

Keywords:
herbarium
Collections Management
Inventory
Software
Open-source.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Systematics Section/ASPT Posters
Location: Exhibit Hall/Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 1st, 2016
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 6:15 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PSY008
Abstract ID:888
Candidate for Awards:None