1. What’s Important Is Information … and We Have Specimens, Too! Neftali Camacho and Darolyn Striley Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County We use databases on the Web to make collection data available We process unsorted and uncurated collections. Simply determining which collections we are responsible for is not always clear. Accumulating, locating, and tracking a collection's associated paper documentation is often challenging. We use databases to track information about collections and the lots contained in those collections. These databases can be viewed at http://collections.nhm.org. The contents are regularly updated and maintained as our working copy. We use our website as our work flow management tool and as a communication tool between colleagues, researchers, and others. Who uses the Web-based collection information? Communication within our work group curators and collection managers museum departments education registrar's office administration External communication other researchers the public students granting agencies Traditional collection data Field notebooks, ship logs, and ledgers containing collection information are stored in widely dispersed locations and curators' offices. Potential problems include limited accessibility and lost documentation. Input Our input page allows curators and collection managers to submit collection information directly from their desks to us in the format that is used on the website. Lot database We use this form to record data from field notes and specimen jars. We can also import directly from electronic files. Salmon- colored fields on the form are calculated from input data. The label content appears at the bottom of the page. Advantages to Web access Collection information at your fingertips Centralized collection data and processing status Ongoing progress report of collection processing Sanity check for long-term projects Workflow management tool Online storage for images of specimens and labels Reduced hassle factor: choose what data to retrieve Time savings: no need to coordinate data transfers Computer-generated labels are often more legible than hand-copied labels, and they are readily duplicated. Complete label information commonly includes: specimen identification collection date locality and habitat information type of fixative and preservative used collector, expedition, vessel, cruise name accession and catalog numbers One major benefit is that all data are web accessible and directly transferable to separate databases maintained by each of the curatorial sections. All original input data are retrievable, as are the formatted output data. Collection managers and curators can choose from 3 file formats (tab delimited, comma separated, or Excel spreadsheet) and can import directly into existing databases. This hand-copied label contains extensive information, but is inaccessible except to a researcher who opens the specimen jar. Output This label has been computer-generated with standardized content and appearance. The data are available online as well as in the jar with the specimen.