CSBR: Natural History: Implementation of an Integrated Database Platform for the University of Michigan Biological Collections

该项目突出了密歇根大学（UM）的一项新努力，以巩固其丰富多样的自然历史博物馆收藏（植物学，古生物学和动物学超过1600万个标本），无论是物理还是虚拟的研究，教学和公共宣传。大学已承诺为三个博物馆建立一个新的共享设施，并在不同的博物馆之间采用一个共同的数据库平台。这些活动将提高数据的可访问性，并改善所有收集的综合研究和教育项目。该项目的具体目标是升级和整合60多个不同的数据库，首次将过去两个世纪在UM进行的三次主要多学科探险的标本，笔记和其他形式的数据连接在一起。其中包括：a）19世纪30年代密歇根州的第一次自然历史调查; B）19世纪70年代约瑟夫·比尔·斯蒂尔（Joseph Beal Steere）领导的第一次环球科学考察; c）20世纪30年代和40年代沃尔特·科尔兹（Walter Koelz）领导的一系列喜马拉雅地区考察，收集了大量的鸟类、植物以及文化和人类学文物。古生物学博物馆的一项重要的较新数字资产是一系列2D和3D图像（包括动画），这些图像记录了猛犸象等大型哺乳动物的骨骼及其发现地点的布局。这些都说明了正在进行的国际研究，正在澳门大学博物馆进行，并将纳入博物馆管理系统。计划中的改进将增加这些收藏品的价值和实用性，用于基础跨学科研究和学生在各种STEM领域的准备。与三次多学科考察相关的所有对象和数据，包括实际标本，原始野外笔记，图像，其他元数据将被数字化，然后使用KE软件电子博物馆数据管理系统（KE EMu）进行数据库化该平台被用作该大学博物馆的通用数据库平台。这将提供以前未实现的跨收藏和跨博物馆访问来自这些收集活动的所有信息，并将为每个探险创建特定的网站奠定基础。这些将旨在为公众和研究界提供新的信息，包括历史学家和社会科学家，以及在K-12，本科和研究生水平的学生培训和教育（5名研究生和10名本科生将接受赠款下的具体培训）。19世纪30年代对密歇根州进行的第一次自然历史调查特别重要，因为它是唯一一次记录该州部分地区原始定居前条件的调查，但其组成尚未得到系统评估。总的来说，该项目将通过共同的收藏管理系统，使其更容易获得和相互联系，从而大大扩大其合并的自然历史收藏的外联、教育和研究价值。它将促进校园内博物馆单位之间更大的合作，并将使大学能够在其所有藏品中产生综合搜索结果。有关密歇根大学自然历史博物馆及其收藏品的更多信息，请访问博物馆网站http：//herbarium.lsa.umich.edu/，http：//www.lsa.umich.edu/ummz/和http://www.lsa.umich.edu/paleontology/。

This project highlights a new effort at the University of Michigan (UM) to consolidate its rich and diverse natural history museum collections (over 16 million specimens in Botany, Paleontology, and Zoology) both physically and virtually into an accessible resource for research, teaching, and public outreach. The University has committed to build a new, shared facility for the three museums as well as to adopting a common database platform across the different museums. These activities will enhance data accessibility and improve integrative research and educational projects across all collections. The specific goals of this project are to upgrade and consolidate more than 60 disparate databases by linking together for the first time specimens, notes, and other forms of data from three major multidisciplinary expeditions that were based at UM over the past two centuries. These include a) the first natural history survey of Michigan in the 1830s; b) the first circum-global scientific expedition by the university led by Joseph Beal Steere in the 1870s; and c) a series of expeditions to the Himalayan region in the 1930s and 1940s led by Walter Koelz that amassed a huge collection of birds, plants, and cultural and anthropological artifacts. An important more recent digital asset at the Museum of Paleontology is a series of 2D and 3D images (including animations) that document large mammal bones such as mammoths and the layout of the sites where they were discovered. These illustrate the kind of ongoing international research that is being carried out at the UM museums and will be incorporated into the museum management system. The improvements planned will increase the value and utility of these collections for basic interdisciplinary research and the preparation of students in a variety of STEM fields.All objects and data associated with the three multidisciplinary expeditions, including actual specimens, original field notes, imagery, and additional metadata will be digitized and then databased using the KE software Electronic Museums data management system (KE EMu) that is being adopted as the common database platform for the university's museums. This will provide previously unrealized cross-collection and cross-museum access to all information derived from these collection events, and it will form the basis for creating specific web sites for each of the expeditions. These will be designed to provide new information for the public and research community, including historians and social scientists, as well as for student training and education at the K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels (five graduate and ten undergraduate students will receive specific training under the grant). The first natural history survey of Michigan from the 1830s is particularly significant because it is the only one that documents the original pre-settlement conditions of parts of the state, but its composition has not been systematically assessed. Overall, the project will significantly broaden the outreach, educational and research, value of its combined natural history collections by making them more accessible and interconnected through a common collections management system. It will foster much greater collaboration among the museum units on campus and will allow the university to produce integrated search results across all of its collections. For additional information about the University of Michigan natural history museums and their collections, consult the museum websites at http://herbarium.lsa.umich.edu/, http://www.lsa.umich.edu/ummz/, and http://www.lsa.umich.edu/paleontology/.