The Ichthyological Collection in the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences contains approximately 1.5 million specimens representing more than 10,000 species, as well as 12,000 type specimens. The collection ranks among the ten largest fish collections in the western hemisphere, and was the first to computerize its entire holdings with MUSE, an NSF-supported database program for microcomputers. Dr. Scott Schaefer, Curator in charge of the fish collection, proposes to validate the data records entered from early (pre-1954) catalog ledgers. These records fail to include many important pieces of information (locality descriptions, species identifications, specimen measurements) that are available on the labels attached to the specimens themselves. Dr. Schaefer also proposes to standardize the geographic place names in locality records, and to determine latitudes and longitudes of localities wherever possible. These improvements to the locality records will allow the database records to be used directly by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other mapping software for biogeographic research. A modem will be added to the Collection's computer network, allowing remote dial-in for querying the database. The proposed improvements will add significantly to the research impact of this important collection. Computerization of natural history collections is proving beneficial to collection management and to research, and the Ichthyology Collection in the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia continues to show vision and leadership in this area.
