Catalog/Barcode Guidelines
- Unique Identifiers: The catalog/barcode must uniquely identify the specimen within the collection. It is important that methods are in place that ensures that no two specimens receive the same identifier, which is particularly important for collections that make their own barcodes using a barcode printer. It is even better if the identifier is globally unique that that the record can always be distinguished from any other catalog/barcode.
- Must be stable: Ideally the barcode should never be modified. Therefore, ensure that barcode is truly unique at the time of assignment so that it doesn’t have to be reassigned.
- Where to Place: For collections The final location for the barcode should be a location that is easy to scan without the need of opening a packet or disturbing the specimen any more than is needed. Remember, that the most important role for barcodes is that they will supply an easy and reliable method for identifying a specimen when preforming curatorial management tasks. If one is processing a group of specimens for a loan, one should be able to quickly go through a stack and scan each specimen without much trouble. Note that OCR returns of text immediately to the right or left of the barcode can be problematic. In order to reduce OCR “noise” that a barcode can create, it is preferable if the barcode is above or below the label with no adjacent text on a horizontal plane.
Barcode Recommendations and Comments
- Global Unique Identifiers (GUID): Ideally, the barcode identifier would uniquely identify that specimen relative to all other specimens found worldwide. The current TDWG recommendations for creating unique herbarium identifiers are to use: <institution code>:<collection code>:12345678. For more information on the Darwin Core recommendations: http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/index.htm#occurrenceID
- Format: Barcodes are often alphanumeric. The most common barcode standard used for herbarium specimens are Code 39. It’s a good idea to avoid using special characters (!@#$%&) and spaces when possible. The size of the barcode label will depend on the space available on the specimen. Smaller sized lichen and bryophyte specimens may make a barcode of the full GUID (ca 18 digits) impractical. In this case, the barcode might only represent the numeric portion of the identifier or have a collection code of only one to two digits.
- Set Number of Digits: Barcodes with a uniform number of digits aids in catching and avoiding errors within the database. For the numeric portion of the barcode, collections typically use 7-8 digits with left padded zeros. For example, ABC herbarium with 275,429 lichen specimens might have a barcode sequence from ABC:L:0000001 to ABC:L:0275429. If the collection chose to match barcode and accession number, a specimen with an accession number of 1234 would be something like ABC:L:0001234.
- Readable Identifier: Include the human readable digits with the barcode so that one can read the identifier without the need of a barcode reader.
- Ordering Barcodes: When ordering preprinted barcodes, it’s a good idea to order enough extra barcodes to cover incoming specimens for the next 10 years or more.
Specimen Catalog & Image Identification Codes for Northern Arizona University (NAU)
Every collection should have both an institutional code and a collection code that allows the world to track a record back to the institution. These codes should be embedded in each record produced by a collection. Although we typically refer to these codes and “catalog numbers” and entered as a DwC field (catalogNumber) many institutions, especially herbaria, refer to these as “barcode identifiers” or simply barcodes. These alphanumeric codes are different than the barcodes that one uses with a barcode scanner, although many barcodes simply code for the barcode identifier (e.g., catalogNumber).
The following formats for catalog numbers were developed for NAU collections. It follows the form ‘Institution Code’, ‘Division’, ‘Collection Letter’, and a seven digit number that is used to identify a single specimen or collection. For images we add three more characters to the specimen code.
An Institution Code is typically four characters, for Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ, this code is “NAUF”. If, for example, the Northern Arizona University branch in Yuma, AZ were housing a collection, this code would be “NAUY”
The Colorado Plateau Mueseum of Arthropod Biodiversity is: NAUF4 (i.e., Colorado Plateau Museum of Arthropod Biodiversity )
These designations are represented by a number after the institution code of a specimen. For example, an arthropod specimen from Northern Arizona University Flagstaff would be “NAUF4” while a plant from Yuma would be “NAUY1”.
Collection Letters may vary from collection to collection within a division. These simply help separate important distinctions between groups of specimens. The Arthropod museum currently uses A for its general collection specimens. For National Park Service specimens that do not have NPS catalog numbers assigned we will use the format in Figure 1, but we will replace the “A” general collection code with an “N” to designate that the specimen is from a National Park Service unit. Other letters besides A & N have not been assigned.
Examples: NAUF4N0000001 – May mean the first arthropod cataloged for specimens collected from a national park but the collector did not receive NPS catalog numbers.
NAUF4A0000001 – Is the first cataloged arthropod specimen from NAU Flagstaff’s Arthropod general collection.
Using these methods, we can store and quickly 9,999,999 specimens for each letter (ie. NAUF4A) for each division at NAU Flagstaff campus.
Colorado Plateau Museum of Arthropod Biodiversity has two legacy formats. Catalog numbers that start with “cole” followed by numbers, and catalog numbers that have “WC” referring to Walnut Creek (e.g., NAU WC 514). Specimens with “cole” were general collection Coleoptera specimens cataloged during early 2000’s as part of the BecBase project. We have stopped using those formats as of 2011.
The only other catalog code used in CPMAB is when a specimen is from a national park or monument and the National Park Service has provided us with a set of catalog numbers and accession number(s). These should all have the four-letter acronym assigned to each unit at the beginning of the catalog string.
Specimen Image Formats
Image file names will be an extension of the specimen catalog code. Because of this, if you wish to batch upload images to SCAN, the image filenames must contain the catalog number of the specimen in question. The file name for the image will consist of the catalog number (i.e. institutional UID) followed by an underscore plus a letter or number. For CPMAB images we will use the format NAUF5F0000101_X# (where X= d(dorsal) etc. and #=a number). The only constraint for a suffix extension is the length, the longer the image suffix the more likely it is to break a process like file copying. You can use whatever characters associated with the additional image information but it should follow an underscore as a suffix of the specimen catalog number. The CPMAB will apply the image file name on the image.
Northern Arizona University and the Colorado Plateau Museum of Arthropod Biodiversity is registered on The Global Registry of Biodiversity Repositories (GRBio) as NAUF (Institutional Code) and CPMAB (Collection Code).