Collections Inventory
Table of contents
1. Detailed inventory of the collection (Number of Specimens)
Before you start digitising your collection, it is really important to know the content of your collection. If you do not have a clear overview of the type of collections, the numbers, the arrangement and the status of your collection, it is very hard to estimate the work and the costs of your future digitisation projects.
For case studies see Detailed inventory of the collections for DiSSCo Flanders and Scoping UK Collections.
1.1 Kind of collections
The approach to digitising each collection can be very diverse. Therefore, it is very important to divide your collection into different sub-collections with a similar digitising approach. List the numbers for the different kinds of collections. It is also useful to know if these collections are kept separately or not, as it will influence the workflow.
- Microscope slides
- Skins and vertebrate material
- Liquid preserved specimens
- Pinned insects
- Herbarium sheets
- 3D objects
- Other
1.2 Estimation of the numbers of your (sub)collections
For each kind of collection type, it is useful to have a trustworthy estimate of your holdings. It will not only facilitate the project planning related to management, staff, equipment and working space but it is also important when you want to outsource your imaging and/or transcription. Mass digitisation of a collection is only cost effective above a minimum threshold of the number of specimens.
For case studies see Estimation of the herbarium collection at Meise Botanic Garden and Estimation of collection size at NHM London.
1.3 Classification system of the different collections
The classification of your collection is crucial in the way you can set up your digitisation workflow. Some information can only be found on the specimen itself but some information can be found on the folders/drawers/cupboards and is the same for all specimens in the same folder/ drawer/ cupboard. That information is very valuable as it can be directly linked to all specimens in it. This can save time and money.
For example vascular plant specimens in the herbarium BR of Meise Botanic Garden are stored in alphabetical order by family, genus and species. Therefore we could digitise the filing name from the folders (a QR code was added to a folder every time the filing name changed) instead of digitising it from the sheets. So all the folders with a QR code were imaged as well and based on these images, the filing name was transcribed. This QR code of the filing name was linked to all the specimens that followed. It saved us a lot of duplicate work as on average 1 folder was linked to 10 sheets.
1.4 Assessment of the condition of your (sub)collections
A crucial step in the pre-digitisation phase is to find out the curational status of your collection to know how much curatorial work is needed before your collection is ready for digitisation. As you will probably digitise your collections only once, you would want to do it properly.
The SYNTHESYS3 NA3 deliverable 3.3 report describes the outcome of a questionnaire that was sent around to 18 partners to review digitisation workflows and the used equipment. Two thirds of the institutions that completed the questionnaire performed at least some minimal curation or conservation steps prior to digitisation.
1.4.1 Curation Status
- Mounting needed
- Desleeving/unfolding/opening needed
- Cleaning needed
- Restoration needed
- Renewal of the folders/boxes/jars/drawers needed
- Refiling needed (for example removing obviously incorrectly filed items)
- No curation needed
As mounting is much more time consuming than imaging (for herbarium specimens it is 50 to 5000 per day, Guiraud et al. 2020), it is best to decouple the mounting process from the digitisation workflow.
While checking the curatorial state of your collection, you can already start making a list of necessary supplies (see section 3 for supply lists).
1.4.2 Toxicity list & risk assessment
Many collections have been treated in the past with chemicals that are now considered as unsafe: herbarium collections could have been treated with mercury, nitrobenzene, naphthalene (in mothballs) or other chemicals; vertebrate skins with arsenic, geology collections store asbestos-containing material or can be radioactive. Liquid collections can contain formaldehyde or other harmful substances. Mould and biological hazards form other problems that can be found in collections.
List all the toxins that were used in your collection to make sure that you take the necessary precautions.
This is not only necessary for the people who work with the collections on a daily basis but it is also important when you plan to outsource the digitisation of your collection. It is recommended to inform the external company and to make a risk assessment.
For a case study see Decontamination of parts of the herbarium at Meise Botanic Garden, and useful literature can be found here
1.4.3 Labels readable
It is important to know is the readability of the specimen labels when digitised. Sometimes they are hidden underneath (part of) the specimen and will not be readable from the image. Will you reposition the label before digitisation? Will you transcribe the information from the specimen itself or from the image?
Citation
De Smedt, S & Bogaerts, A. (2022) DiSSCo Digitisation Guide: Pre-Digitisation Checklist. v.1.1. Available at: https://dissco.github.io/Digitisation/PreDigCuration/PreDigCuration.html
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Version: 1.1
Changes since last version:
- Detailed inventory of the collection (Number of Specimens) moved to a separate page Last Updated: 3 February 2023
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