1. John T. Longino
Department of
Biology
The University of
Utah
Keep the cash flowing: specimens as currency

2. The Goal:
To have the most objects before you die
To learn about the world by examining objects
To acquire disparate kinds of data from
objects and keep them linked

3. The Good Old Days:

4. Pros: science got done
Cons: I had to capture data; no easy way to attach
data to individual specimens; writing lots of little
determination labels
The Good Old Days:

5. The Problems:
Need for unique identifiers

6. JTL
INBio
sp3 JTLMCZ 2007
ident deposited det by det date
sp1 JTLJTL 2001
MCZ sp4 SCMCZ 2009
AntWeb BOLD

8. The Problems:
Conflation of unique identifiers and ownership labels

9. The Problems:
Separation of research and artifact preservation
functions in big museums
Mound, L. A. 2012. The Natural History Museum re-visited. Antenna 36:195-200.
"Caring for the physical well-being of collections is ...
increasingly an end in itself, and commonly determines its own
priorities. Moreover, these priorities quickly become
separated from priorities for the creation of ideas and
knowledge for which collections have been amassed."

10. The Solutions:
Treat unique identifiers like insect pins

11. The Solutions:
Use existing specimen identifiers

15. Insuring uniqueness?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globally_unique_identifier
MUEUI: Unique in the Entomological Universe Identifier
Institution blind unique identifiers?

16. The Solutions:
Use the specimen identifiers

19. The Solutions:
Outsource data capture to borrowers

20. http://www.si.edu/Collections
http://entomology.si.edu
Are insects a special case?

21. http://www.gadling.com/2010/03/26/airlines-losing-3000-bags-every-hour-of-every-day

23. I would rather excel in the knowledge
of what is excellent, than in the
extent of my power and possessions.