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HERBRECS ‐ the Queensland Herbarium records system ‐ its development and use
Author(s) -
Johnson R. W.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
taxon
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1996-8175
pISSN - 0040-0262
DOI - 10.2307/1222982
Subject(s) - herbarium , taxon , database , aside , geography , world wide web , archaeology , computer science , information retrieval , ecology , biology , art , literature
Summary Johnson, R. W.: HERBRECS ‐ the Queensland Herbarium records system ‐ its development and use. ‐ Taxon 40: 285–300. 1991. ‐ ISSN 0040‐0262. HERBRECS is the herbarium records database of label information held in the Queensland Herbarium. It was initiated in 1971 using an automatic paper‐tape punching typewriter which enabled the generation of labels for new accessions to be combined with the storage of label information on an indexed sequential magnetic tape masterfile. Capture of data from the existing herbarium collections started in 1975. Sequential tape storage was replaced by a custom‐built database management system that became fully operational in 1981. Details of the development of the system are provided, and problems encountered are outlined. A wide range of users are requesting information from the database, particularly distributional information about taxa and floristic lists for given areas. Aside from taxonomic institutions most demand has come from conservation organisations and those involved in economic botany. The major challenge in the future will be to ensure that information associated with herbarium specimens, in particular the botanical name, remains identical to that stored on the computer masterfile while collections are being revised.