BiodIS K-State Biodiversity Information System David Allen and Mike Haddock K-State Libraries Coalition for Networked Information December 15, 2009

Collaboration of the K-State Herbarium, Museum of Entomological and Prairie Arthropod Research and K-State Libraries “Elevate the K-State natural history museums as the premier collection for biodiversity research and bioinformatics in the prairie and Great Plains region.”

Project objectives :  modernize collections facilities  database the natural history collections  create Biodiversity Information System (BiodIS) with access, discovery and collaboration tools for diverse audiences  facilitate training in collections research and biodiversity informatics  scan selected plant and insect specimens

Accomplishments to date:  Herbarium cabinets replaced; insect cabinets continue to be replaced; updating curation of insect specimens  130,000 plants and 95,000 insects databased  Biodiversity Information System (BiodIS) created and available for use

Accomplishments to date:  2,000 pages of historically significant print documents have been digitized  Ten graduate and undergraduate students trained in collections research and basic biodiversity informatics  Other sources of funding contributing to the project include NSF, NFS-EPSCoR, K-State Research and Extension, and K-State Libraries

Focus audiences:  High school biology teachers – Web 2.0, teacher involvement for development, custom searches  Plant taxonomists, ecologists and other non-systematist scientists – tools to increase use of the collections data by other scientists  Extension agents (diagnostics) - pages with commonly requested and advisory information.  General public and promoters – highlight broad interest images and print resources, featured collection/researcher  Great Plains herbaria – potential for networking of curators, discussion of databases, possible collaborations, promoting of collections

In Progress:In Progress:  Currently scanning plant specimens – completed - images will be linked to the database  Field photos of selected insects will be added to the databases  Additional monographs have been digitized and are undergoing OCR review prior to loading on BiodIS: Grasses in Kansas, Grasshoppers of Kansas, Beetles of Kansas, Wildflowers of Kansas, Weevils of Kansas, Trees of Kansas  Implementation of Content DM ©