Collections Management Systems
Collections Management Systems
This wiki provides an update to iDigBio's 2012 resource, Biological Collections Databases, Tools, and Data Publication Portals.
iDigBio gathers information about collections management system (CMS) options to share with the natural history collections community, both as an online resource available to anyone, and as a reference specifically for participants in our Digitization Academy courses. We have asked representatives of each CMS to respond to a survey containing a standard set of questions, which we believe can be helpful for potential new users comparing CMS options. These surveys, as well as additional resources, are organized by CMS option (alphabetically) below.
If you are a CMS representative and wish to be added to this list, or to update the information here, please contact Erica Krimmel (ekrimmel@fsu.edu).
Arctos
Axiell EMu
Axiell presentation for iDigBio (video, 2021)
BRAHMS
CollectionSpace
Overview of CollectionSpace (video, 2021)
CollectiveAccess
CollectiveAccess is a highly configurable collections management system suitable for use in a wide range of disciplines, from anthropology to art history to paleontology to corporate archives. CollectiveAccess includes a range of preconfigured “profiles” for various use cases and standards, including DarwinCore, SPECTRUM and VRA.
EarthCape
Specify
Specify Software handles the curatorial processing and publishing of data associated with specimens in biological collections, including museums, herbaria, and biorepositories of tissue and DNA samples. Specify manages data for collections management tasks associated with museum transactions and mobilizes collections data through the Specify Web Portal, and through IPT to caches such as GBIF and iDigBio. Specify 7 also integrates through APIs with aggregators and online services for retrieving records of information related to specimen catalog entries.
Extending Specify for a New Biological Collections Computing Paradigm (video, 2021)
Symbiota
Symbiota is an adaptable, customizable software that enables self-defined and self-governed communities of practice to form, collaborate, and produce globally integrated, high- quality biodiversity data resources. Symbiota is ideal for small- to medium-sized collections that lack IT support and resources. Symbiota has also been used to create location-based data portals (e.g., http://www.cal-ibis.org/) and institutional management systems across collections (e.g. https://bellatlas.umn.edu). Data in web-based Symbiota portals can be instantly searchable via public search features, and there are many tools to connect these data to other collections and to aggregators (e.g., iDigBio, GBIF).
Introduction to Symbiota (video, 2021)