1. The William and Linda Steere Herbarium The New York Botanical Garden
The Projeto Flora Amazônica field books: An excellent resource for improving data input efficiency
D. Shannon Asencio
The William and Linda Steere Herbarium
The New York Botanical Garden

2. The William and Lynda Steere Herbarium
Steere Herbarium (NY) is among the four largest in the world (ca. 7 million specimens); largest in the western hemisphere
All plants groups represented, as well as fungi and lichens
Emphasis on New World flora, with particular strength in Brazilian specimens

3. Collections digitization at NY
Started 17 years ago
KE EMu (Electronic Museum) software
System of nested modules
Good choice for integrating data previously generated in NYpc
Used for maintaining Index Herbariorum, a global directory of public herbaria and associated staff
American Botanical Literature searchable database
Curator research web pages

4. Projeto Flora Amazônica
Bi-national effort between Brazil and U.S.
Initiated in January 1976
First expedition took place late 1977
25 expeditions
Fieldwork completed 1987
Prance et al., 1984

5. Programa Flora Four principal objectives:
To produce as complete an inventory as possible of the plant resources of Brazil
To make the data gathered available in an easily accessible format so that it can be used for the social and economic benefit of humans
To establish regional research centers throughout Brazil capable of carrying out the inventory on a local basis, in preparation for studies on economic uses of plants, ecological challenges, and environmental conservation
To encourage the education and training of Brazilian botanists, particularly in plant systematics and data management, through graduate courses and training programs
Prance et al., 1984

6. Amazon Digitization Project
Started in January 2008
Goal: to catalogue and image all NY specimens from the Brazilian Amazon
Initial approach: skeletal records
Later approach: complete geographical data
Data repatriation: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)
Google Maps

7. Methods for improving rapid data entry
Importation of duplicate specimen data from other institutions
Querying nearby collection data
Mass collection data input using collector field books

8. Field books in the archives of NY

9. Field books – sample layout
Plant family
Plant description
Collection locality
No. of duplicates
Determination
Collection no.
Collection date
Habitat

10. Collection data input

11. The product

12. Results
A total of 53,920 specimen collection events created using field books
Average of 641 collection records created each day using this method
Productivity as high as 1,557 records created in a single day
Cataloguing rates up ca. 50%

13. Caution! Older field books can be difficult to read and interpret
Collection numbers are not necessarily unique identifiers
Separate data sources (e.g. field books vs. labels): possible inconsistencies
Data must be validated!

14. Conclusions
It is worth exploring a variety of data sources, especially when undertaking large-scale cataloguing projects
Using data gathered in the field (i.e. field books) is an effective method for improving the work flow of databasing projects
Naturally grouped data, such as field book entries, are easy to enter collectively and can provide comparable data quality to specimen labels
These advantages to data entry can be applied to any type of specimen cataloguing, not just botanical cataloguing

15. Acknowledgements National Science Foundation
Barbara Thiers, Michael Bevans, Anthony Kirchgessner, Melissa Tulig, Benito Santos, Nicole Tarnowsky, Stephen Gottschalk, Benjamin Saracco, and several volunteers
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