| Abstract | This guide is offered to help anyone wanting to database and / or digitally image their collections. It is written in very simple terms since this work should not require a computer expert.
This guide is based on digitizing a type collection so it is more rigorous and careful than may be necessary for other collections, particularly the archive protocol. The user should take or leave whatever information they feel is necessary. However, if the guide is to be used for a type collection, it is recommended that the degree of rigor, if not the actual protocol, be matched.
Three different imaging setups are described, from a very inexpensive solution to the top of the range. These descriptions are not intended to prescribe the best or only setups, but to inform others about the setups we are using now as a result of over 5 years research--much of this with limited budgets. We developed these under the guidance of Dr. Piotr Naskrecki, with early and continued assistance by Dr. Gary Alpert and Dr. Brian Farrell.
In a similar way we describe a Filemaker Pro implementation called MANTIS. It is one of many database solutions for managing taxonomic information, but is recommended since it is easy to use, runs on both PC and Mac and is can be downloaded free from the web. It is also the creation of Piotr Naskrecki. |
