Digitizing Biological Collections - Task Process Overview

Scientists estimate natural history collections across the United States may contain more than 1 billion biological specimens. Frequently, the collections data are inaccessible to potential users. To make them available, members of the collections community called for the digitization of specimens and associated data, and the online dissemination of this information. Digitization is the process of creating an electronic representation of text, images, recordings or other specimen information. With funding from NSF, iDigBio, the coordinating center for the national digitization effort, shares best practices and workflows to improve efficiency and scalability of the digitization process.