A National Science Foundation grant has been awarded to Georgia Southern University to digitize and re-curate the Georgia Southern University ? Savannah Science Museum Herpetology Collection. This collection is a valuable historical record of the biological diversity of coastal Georgia and South Carolina. The locality data from the collection of approximately 35,000 specimens will be digitized and the collection completely re-curated. All specimenswill be removed from old storage media, inspected, individually tagged,and placed in proper storage containers and media. All paper and online data records will be cross-checked for accuracy, and the database shared via an online meta-search portal such as Herpnet. These improvements will dramatically increase the use and exposure of the collection such that its value to the scientific community will be strengthened.
Enhancement of the collection will also improve instructional and outreach opportunities. The project will augment the graduate and undergraduate curriculum by providing a large, searchable database of natural history data for use in teaching. In addition, the project will generate broader collaborative efforts with constituents who have interests in collections, data mining, and outreach. Finally, completion of these efforts will allow for more visitations to local schools for presentations on herpetology, and the integration of herpetological resources into existing outreach programs available at the University.
The purpose of this award was to modernize the Georgia Southern University – Savannah Science Museum Herpetology Collection (GSU-SSM). Natural history collections like this are vital in documenting the abundance and distribution of plants and animals, for providing voucher specimens for research. The orphaned GSU- SSM collection was brought to Georgia Southern due to its regional focus and value to scientists locally and regionally. This NSF award funded all phases of the work to modernize the collection, as well as several outreach activities to educate students and the public. The primary objective of the award was to key-in all of the data that were on paper records (many hand-written) into a computerized data base. The second objective was to rectify these data. Multiple paper data sources were available and each had to be cross referenced with the digital data to ensure the highest level of accuracy. The third objective was to re-curate each specimen, that is, to remove and inspect each specimen, ensure its proper identity, and return it to a new storage container with proper chemicals and catalog number. With the help of several undergraduate and graduate students, each of these three objectives was accomplished for all 24,000+ records in the GSU-SSM. Given that each record has 5-10 pieces of data with it, this project was a major undertaking. The final objective was to share all of the GSU-SSM data online. This objective was also accomplished via search portals available to anyone in the world. Now, the data quality is high, the specimens are properly and safely stored, and the GSU-SSM data can be used be scientists and the public alike.
