Digitization PEN: Integrating the unique collections of southern Illinois at SIU to improve coverage of the Southeastern US Flora in SERNEC

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Through this award the Southern Illinois University (SIU) Herbarium will join the SERNEC Thematic Collections Network (TCN). The SIU collections house an estimated 90,000 specimens of plants, primarily representing the regional flora, including many historically important specimens. While providing diverse data useful to various basic scientific fields, this project be fundamental to the greater understanding of plant sciences in southern Illinois and the surrounding regions. It will also provide information for more applied fields, such as natural area conservation, ecosystem restoration, and ecological impacts of human activities. On a local level, the digital resources will be integrated into courses at SIU, used in outreach activities at university sponsored events and in a local nature recreation park, and promoted to the general public.The herbarium at SIU will digitize the collection to gather and provide label transcriptions, georeferences, and specimen imaging online as part of the Southeast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections (SERNEC). The flora of southern Illinois is closely allied to the southeastern US floristically. This project will proceed with a pre-digitization check of specimens, followed by barcoding, verification of label data, label transcription, digital imaging, image editing, and georeferencing. Finally, data will be transferred to SERNEC for public access, and added to the national resource at iDigBio.org.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.