The Case for Collection Support:
Getting to the “First Step”
Judith Skog
Biological Sciences Directorate
National Science Foundation
July 11, 2012
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Collections contain information that
is valuable for a variety of purposes
Target audience must be considered
Framing is extremely important for
survival of collections
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Ginkgo biloba known as a
fossil only in west
Saved from extinction in
east
Chinese trees venerated
by Buddhist monks and
preserved in gardens
Medicinal and religious
uses of seeds and leaves
People respected old age
and long life
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Earliest botanical garden
and herbarium at Padua
in 1545
Center for scientific
research
Medicinal uses of plants
not standard in practice
Government of Venice
wanted people healthy
Scientists’ case for study
Continues to present day
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Hans Sloan as
successful
physician
Supported his
botanical
collections
Founding
collections for
British Museum
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Linnaeus with patrons
Importance of collecting
Medical uses with
understanding of nature
Supported students to
collect around the
world adding to the
growing knowledge of
organisms
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Public middle classes
interested in their
world and what was
in it
Amateurs collected
variety of items
Beginning of societies
for natural history
Often pastimes were
arranging collections
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Increasing numbers of public
museums for the general
interest in the natural world
– 1881 Nat. Hist Mus opened
to public in London
Growth of cities encouraged
people to romanticize the
natural world
Science discussed and
debated
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Ecology proposing large major facility
Biodiversity researchers also proposing large
effort
Center activities increasing – NCEAS first
Taxon-based data resources being established
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FishNet and Species Analyst in 1999
HerpNet and MaNIS in 2001
Environmental data integration projects (Ocean
Biogeographic Information System, 1997)
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NSF priorities: People, Ideas, Tools
Cyberinfrastructure
NEON planning began
Global organization for
biodiversity information
Collections collaboration
increasing
Workshops on collection
interactions – at University of Florida, New
York Botanical Garden
Discovery
Foster research that will advance the frontiers
of knowledge, emphasizing areas of greatest
opportunity and potential benefit and
establishing the nation as a global leader in
fundamental and transformational science and
engineering.
Research Infrastructure
Build the nation’s research capability through
critical investments in advanced instrumentation,
facilities, cyberinfrastructure and experimental
tools.
Research Collections proposals for collaborations
allowed, but underfunded – needed increase of
funds in program and new solicitation
 Research Coordination Network awarded for
Collections Web to bring the community together
 Within the Federal Government, there was
recognition that the U.S. collections were a heritage
needing attention and that they were important for a
number of reasons. This concern was expressed in
the Office of Management and Budget memos to the
federal agencies for consideration of priorities in
their budgets.
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OMB memo to Federal Agencies highlighted
the importance of scientific collections
“ Two areas requiring special agency attention
and focus through the NSTC are Federal
scientific collections and R&D assessment.”
“Agencies should assess the priorities for and
stewardship of Federal scientific collections
and should develop a coordinated strategic
plan to identify, maintain and use Federal
collections and to further collections research.”
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Interagency Working Group on Scientific
Collections began in Fall 2005
All agencies with collections at meeting
NSF houses no collections – but was deemed to
be the interface with the non-federal collections
that had received funding over many years for
improvements to collections
First step was to assess existing collections
NSF had to develop separate assessment for
collections not federally owned
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Set up a focus group to develop an appropriate
assessment questionnaire for the non federal
collections
Held at AMNH in NY with variety of
collections represented
Questionnaire was approved by OMB and
those collections that had received support
from NSF were surveyed
At the end of the survey, about 72% of those
surveyed responded with information.
Clear that collections needed additional funds
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Enhanced coordination
and networking among
collections and curators.
Finding and retaining
expertise.
Reducing the risk of loss
of specimens.
Improving accessibility of
collections
Developing new tools to
enable exchange of data
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Primary:
 Improvements to Biological Research Collections
 Systematic Biology and Biodiversity Inventories
Other:
 Advances in Biological Informatics
 Major Research Instrumentation
 Long Term Ecological Research
 Ecology
 CISE/Information and Intelligent Systems, Computer
and Network Systems
Funding Decisions were Independent,
Disaggregated
Scientific collections provide proper validation of species
including a wealth of ancillary data such as DNA samples
and environment/habitat information.
These data provide the baseline from which to begin
further biodiversity studies and provide critical
information about the existing gaps in our knowledge of
life on earth.
To maximize the use of this information, digitizing
scientific collections into a resource that can be accessed by
the broadest possible community is vital
September 2009: BIO Advisory
Committee discussed collections and
digitization—what is needed?
Development of a focused
strategic research agenda
 Development of technologies to
enhance digitization capabilities
 Determination of where to start
digitizing
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Develop a plan to engage
and mobilize the collections
community to answer the
question:
What would a focused, tenyear campaign to digitize
existing collections look
like?
Held two focus group
meetings to develop a
community strategic plan
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Strategic plan for digitizing, imaging,
mobilizing collections data for the non-federal
collections in the USA completed by June 2010
 Need a central organization for integration
 Need for thematic networks based on
research area
 Need for regional groups or clade based
groups
 Assess need for new tools and technologies
 At the core are the collections
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Transform the
frontiers emphasizes
the seamless
integration of
research and
education as well as
the close coupling of
research
infrastructure and
discovery.
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Office of Science and Technology Policy
(OSTP), in consultation with relevant
federal agencies, develop policies for
management and use of federal scientific
collections to “improve the quality,
organization, access, including online
access, and long-term preservation of
such collections for the benefit of the
scientific enterprise.”
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10 year effort to digitize as many of
the U.S. owned collections as
possible
Invest at least 10 million dollars per
year
Establish the central resource
Start Thematic Collections Networks
based on major research challenges
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Information is an important component
of collections and emphasizes the need to
communicate that information in the
form best suited for the century
Know the audience and what they wish
to know and understand the political
priorities
In that context, framing the issue is
critical
C o s m o s