3.3. Integrated catalogue (TECHNOLOGY)

Collections Catalogue
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This is topic 3.3. in the Technology section of the Advancing the Catalogue of the World’s Natural History Collections consultation. Use this topic to discuss the questions listed below.

Background
GBIF has the mission to provide global-scale support for biodiversity informatics solutions and has expanded its Registry to host the data historically maintained as GRSciColl. GRSciColl content is incomplete and is best seen as a framework for expansion with richer collection metadata that properly represents the needs and interests of collections. GBIF can serve as the context for integration and deduplication of collection information from different sources and for interlinking this information for other biodiversity data. GBIF requires guidance on the best way to support the needs and branding of collections and their communities as it develops such services.

Other materials

The following contributed materials are particularly relevant to this topic:

Questions

  • Are there issues with GBIF providing hosting and support for the global catalogue through its Registry?
  • What is required to ensure that this meets the needs of collections and is fully adopted and owned by the collections community?
  • What challenges need to be addressed to minimise duplication of content and effort within an integrated catalogue?
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One key use for the integrated catalogue should be for it to offer endpoints that allow the wider community to resolve informal collection identifiers, making use of past experience, all connected data, probability and machine learning to assist with constructing the biodiversity knowledge graph. See some of the discussion starting here under Topic 1.8.

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What is required to ensure that this meets the needs of collections and is fully adopted and owned by the collections community?

Certainly, support for easy and customizable creation and update of the records is vital. As mentioned in other threads, this should account for directly updating the records using web forms as well as integrating with existing data publication pipelines including existing collection registries, mechanisms such as BioCASE and integration with institutional collection data management systems.

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From @ErikaSalazar in this Spanish thread

For Colombia, the law establishes that the Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Alexander von Humboldt is who ought to manage the Registro Nacional de Colecciones (National Registry of Collections) and host it in their web page.

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