Small Collections Grant

The digitisation of herbarium collections will give greater accessibility to carry out countless scientific studies. Many projects require examining the specimens collected, others require rapid verification of the data that labels have as locations, phenology and distribution of species that can be obtained from images through the digitisation of specimens themselves as well as their electronic databases. Access to relevant plant collections is essential to promote knowledge of global biodiversity and inform conservation activities.

Two members of staff from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew with extensive digitisation experience, will travel to SJ to work alongside the collection curator, Mr Jose Sustache. The digitisation workflow developed at Kew and previously employed at SJ will be followed. This workflow has three main elements: a specimen workflow, an image workflow and a data workflow. The specimen workflow involves the selection and barcoding of the targeted specimens. The image workflow comprises image capture, processing, image management, metadata recording and quality control. The final stage of the digitisation workflow focuses on the data, which includes capturing and managing those data associated with specimens and is primarily focused on the curatorial information – the geographic area and stored under name.