A Data Mobilization Project in a Regional Herbarium

The University of White Plains is a well recognized tertiary education institution in Guatemala and a national reference for biodiversity research. The Plant Biology Department keeps a mediumsize herbarium containing approximately 80,000 specimens collected in and around the local region and dating from the mid20th century to the present. The collection includes important specimens including types and endemics. Currently, the care of the collection is assigned to the Professor of Plant Systematics, who performs curatorial tasks as well as their regular research and teaching work. The Departmental Admin is responsible for daytoday administrative tasks for the herbarium such as purchasing consumables including paper and labels. Faculty staff and students collaborating within the department occasionally work on and update the identifications on the specimens and there are two retired botanists who regularly volunteer in the collection assisting the Professor to prepare loans. The University already has an online search for its library collections which is maintained by the University’s central webteam on externally hosted servers. No natural history specimens are currently served via this platform. The Head of the Plant Biology Department has recently secured 2 years of funding to image and publish the botanical collections information online. The team wants to use this opportunity to establish a permanent digitization and publishing protocol that will give higher visibility to the herbarium and continue attracting funding.