Herbarium Improvements for the University of South Carolina

在Robert Raguso博士的指导下，南卡罗来纳州（哥伦比亚）大学获得了一笔赠款，以改善生物科学系内的植物标本馆收藏。收藏品中特别丰富的是南卡罗来纳州的植物。它最重要的财产是那些稀有和濒危物种，栽培植物和杂草物种。当前的两个主要问题导致了该项目的发展。首先，标本的人身安全受到威胁，因为它们继续被安置在旧的、不适当的钢（和木）箱中作为储存单元。植物标本室内的一些箱子已经破旧不堪，没有气密性，可能会受到破坏性昆虫的侵扰。第二，收集的资料已达到足够的规模和重要性，显然可以作为联机数据库。 为植物标本室制定的项目要求提供资金，以新的储存单元取代不适当的植物标本室，并为在联机数据库中记录标本数据的人力提供工资。该项目的第一个方面将涉及将旧橱柜移出植物标本馆，用新橱柜替换，并转移标本。收集的数据库将为期三年;将雇用三名大学生。不需要额外的计算机软件，因为我们可以使用“Index Arabuckiensis”访问Microsoft Access平台。SC的状态是植物多样性，相当大的植物库存仍有待完成。因此，最大的单一科学植物标本收集应该是最重要的了解国家的植物多样性。由于这一项目，植物标本馆内的收藏品将得到更好的保护，现在和将来都将更好地用于科学用途。该项目将允许适度扩大现有储存能力。 对收集的数据进行处理后，将有大约70%的收集资料作为在线电子资源提供。最后，该项目的一个广泛影响将是南加州大学与其他州机构植物标本馆的合作，以巩固全州范围的植物标本数据。 作为资源的收集的额外使用将得到加强，例如，作为园丁，农民，推广代理和植物爱好者的免费植物鉴定的持续来源。

A grant has been awarded to the University of South Carolina (Columbia) under the direction of Dr. Robert Raguso to improve the Herbarium collection, located within the Department of Biological Sciences. The collection is especially rich in plants of South Carolina. Its most significant holdings are those of rare and endangered species, cultivated plants, and weedy species. Two major current issues have resulted in the development of this project. First, the physical safety of the specimens is jeopardized by their continued housing in old, inadequate steel (and wood) cases as storage units. Some of the cases within the Herbarium are dilapidated to the point that there is no air seal, allowing possible infestation by destructive insects. Second, the collection has reached sufficient size and importance that its availability as an on-line database has become apparent. The project developed for the Herbarium calls for funding to replace inadequate herbarium cases with new storage units, and to provide salary for the manpower involved in recording specimen data within an on-line database. The first aspect of the project will involve moving old cabinets out of the herbarium, replacing them with new ones, and transferring the specimens. The databasing of the collection will be of three-year duration; three university students will be hired for this. Additional computer software will not be needed, as we have access to a Microsoft Access platform using "Index Kentuckiensis". The state of SC is botanically diverse, and considerable botanical inventory remains to be completed. Thus, the largest single scientific collection of plant specimens should be of utmost importance in understanding the state's botanical diversity. As a result of this project, the collections within the Herbarium will be better protected and more available for scientific use, both now and well into the future. The project will allow for a modest expansion of existing storage capacity. The data processing of the collection will result in approximately 70% of the total collection made available as an on-line electronic resource. Finally, a certain broad impact of this project will be the collaboration of USC with other state institutional herbaria for the consolidation of state-wide herbarium data. Additional use of the collections as a resource will be enhanced, for instance, as a continuing source of free plant identifications for gardeners, farmers, extension agents, and plant enthusiasts.