The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - collections databasing at the Australian Museum Dr Penny Berents – Head of Natural Science Collections 2011 Global EMu Users Meeting, th Oct

Australian Museum Collections

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11 different collection databases 7 servers 10 in Texpress 1 in Dataease varied data standards and formats Collection databases

>18 million specimens estimate 3.9 million Catalogue records currently 1.67 million Catalogue records Collection databases

100% = Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Fish, Marine Invertebrates, Arachnology 30% = Entomology, Malacology 13% = Mineralogy, Palaeontology Collection databases

1.Data access 2.Efficient collection management 3.Collection development Opportunities

OZCAM records CollectionRecords Australian Museum895,113 Museum Victoria519,351 CSIRO210,040 Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery41,717 Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery10,534 Museum and Gallery of Northern Territory192,310 South Australian Museum164,385 Western Australian Museum262,123 Queensland Museum26,589 OZCAM TOTAL2,322,091

1.Data access 2.Efficient collection management 3.Collection development Opportunities

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1.Data access 2.Efficient collection management 3.Collection development Opportunities

Geographic gaps

Distribution of records

Australian Alps

Inland NSW

1.Data capture 2.Auditors 3.Internal tensions Challenges

1.Data capture 2.Auditors 3.Internal tensions Challenges

1.Data capture 2.Auditors 3.Internal tensions Challenges

Acknowledgments Dr Sandy Ingleby - Collection Manager, Mammalogy Mark McGrouther – Collection Manager, Ichthyology Collection Informatics Unit – Paul Flemons, Dr Mick Ashcroft

Thank you