Collections Management Systems

From iDigBio
Jump to navigation Jump to search

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

Website

Webinar recordings

Axiell EMu

Website

2021 Survey

Axiell presentation for iDigBio (video, 2021)

BRAHMS

Website

2021 Survey

CollectionSpace

CollectionSpace is a community-supported collections management solution for museums and other collecting organizations, providing standards-based collections management workflows, robust tools to store and describe a wide variety of digital assets, unlimited user licenses, and a public collections browser. An organizational home for CollectionSpace is provided by LYRASIS, a unique non- profit membership organization and trusted service provider for hundreds of cultural heritage organizations. LYRASIS is home to 10 community-supported programs, providing support, strategic direction and community management, while also representing new programs for the future health of LYRASIS and the thousand-plus members and partners we represent through our Research & Innovation Division.

Website

2021 Survey

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.

Website

2021 Survey

EarthCape

Website

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.

Website

2021 Survey

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).

Website

2021 Survey

Introduction to Symbiota (video, 2021)

TaxonWorks

Website

2021 Survey

The Museum System

Website

2021 Survey