Biological collections are an irreplaceable resource that informs our scientific understanding of the history and diversity of life on Earth. The value of these research collections is greatly enhanced when the specimens and data are digitized and made widely and publically available. The biodiversity collections community recently united to develop a ten-year Strategic Plan for establishing a Network Integrated Biocollections Alliance (NIBA), but to date, no detailed community-informed plan has been developed to guide the implementation of that Strategic Plan. The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) will conduct a workshop of diverse stakeholders with the specific goal of deriving a detailed implementation plan for the NIBA.
A detailed community-informed plan will help the scientific community more effectively curate specimens and data, increase research productivity by improving access to collection resources, develop innovative tools to capture and validate data, develop protocols that enhance the efficiency of digital capture, and provide education and training to develop the biodiversity collections workforce. As data and specimens are captured and made publically available, there will be new opportunities for the public to access and learn about biodiversity and Earth systems, and the plan will recommend methods to promote citizen science activities to expose the public directly to these scientific resources.
The scientific infrastructure of the United States includes more than 1000 institutions with biological collections. These biocollections, which are growing daily, are the result of nearly 250 years of scientific investigation, discovery, and inventory of living and fossil species from this country and around the world. Their more than one billion specimens and associated data are maintained for use in research and education and to inform decisions that affect the environment, public health, food security, and commerce. This monumental investment of human effort and financial resources in research, documentation, and analysis is of value to many fields beyond biology. Computer and information science, geology, environmental science, land management, K-12 education, and citizen science are among the fields that increasingly seek access to this vital resource. In 2010, the biocollections community, recognizing the enormous value of its resources for research, education, and society at large, coalesced to develop "A Strategic Plan for Establishing a Network Integrated Biocollections Alliance," or NIBA (http://digbiocol.wordpress.com/brochure). The workshop supported by this grant evaluated this strategic plan and proposed a series of actions that would, if taken, implement NIBA over the coming decade. One product of this workshop was publication of a report, "An Implementation Plan for a Network Integrated Biocollections Alliance" (www.aibs.org/public-policy/NIBA_Implementation_Plan.pdf). Following publication of the Implementation Plan, several national organizations have partnered to advance goals identified by the biocollections community in these plans. Their actions are leading to a coordinated national effort to incorporate cutting-edge technologies into data analysis and the management and curation of biocollections. The technologies include digital imaging, image recognition, and natural language processing, as well as other cyber-assisted techniques for putting specimen data online. NIBA encourages researchers who are able to contribute expertise to this grand and vital enterprise to step forward and assist the effort, which will facilitate research in a wide range of fields.
