Cataloging Field Books: Describing Scientific Primary Resources

Sonoe Nakasone, Field Book Project

The problem

The solution?

Mission: to create a Field Book Registry, one online location for field book content

everywhere.

National Museum of Natural History

Smithsonian Institution Archives+

What is a field book anyway?

*Primary source material documenting scientific field work for biodiversity research.

Why do we care about field notes?

• Original data• Locality and travel routes• Specimen details• Environmental or cultural context• Historical information and personal narrative

Rich history of “amateur” naturalists– John James Audubon– Robert Kennicott– WWII Soldier Collecting– Citizen scientists and enthusiasts

Top: Plate CCCCXXXI, the Greater Flamingo, painted by John James Audubon for his folio The Birds of America (1827-1838).

Bottom: Bailey, Charles. “On the structure, the occurrence in Lancashire, and the source of origin of Naias graminea, Del., var. Delilei, Magnus” London? 1884.

Why should you care?

– 26% Material type / form– 26% Place (25% place and date)– 26% Collector– 22% Discipline / specimens

SIA reference questions by scientific expedition 2001 to 2011

How are relevant field books found?

How are field books described?

MARC15.4%

Dublin Core10.3%

EAD12.8%

Local Schema17.9%

ICMS7.7%

Specify2.6%

No answer33.3%

Description methods for Field Book Project

CollectionNatural Collections Description (NCD)

http://www.tdwg.org/activities/ncd/

ItemMetadata Objects Description Schema (MODS)

http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/

Why MODS?

• XML– Plain language– Platform independent

• Simple, yet adaptable

Bloody Run

Allegh

Long Hill

Clarksburg

Schellsburg

111

112

Salmon Pike

183

182

185

186

Item level description (not all elements shown)

• Title• Date• Accession number• Collection• Location• Physical Description• Resource Type

• Form and Genre• Geographic subjects• Names of entities• Topical subjects• Abstract

– 26% Material type / form– 26% Place (25% place and date)– 26% Collector– 22% Discipline / specimens

Genre (AAT)Isness: Formats, material types, styles

26% Material type / form

Field notesSketches

MapsItineraries

Geographic subjects (TGN, GNIS)Places specimens were collected

26% Place (25% place and date)

United StatesNew York

PennsylvaniaDistrict of Columbia

Kentucky

Dates (ISO 8601 / W3CDTF)

Date range (yyyy or yyyy-yyyy)Start date (YYYY or YYYYMMDD)End date (YYYY or YYYYMMDD)

Qualifier (approximate, inferred, questionable)

Names as creators (VIAF)Persons, organizations, expeditions

Creators, contributors

Names as subjects (VIAF)

Rafinesque, C. S. (Constantine Samuel), 1783-1840 = EACP20

26% Collector

Topical subjects (LCSH)Aboutness: Topics, Disciplines, specimens

22% Discipline / specimens

IchthyologyMollusks

BotanyEntomologyHerpetology

Mycology

Encoded Archival Context (EAC)

• Creating archival authority records for persons, organizations, and expeditions.

• Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)

Future goals

• Full online digital access• Crowdsourcing• Education and Outreach• Global participation

AcknowledgementsRusty Russell, Co-PICollections & Informatics, Botany

Carolyn Sheffield, Project ManagerSonoe Nakasone, Cataloging Coordinator

Lesley Parilla, Cataloger and Graphics DesignerEmily Hunter, Cataloger and Social Media Coordinator

Kira Cherrix, Image and Video Digitization Specialist, SIARicc Ferrante, Director of Digital Services, SIA

Tammy Peters, Supervisory Archivist, SIANora Lockshin, Paper Conservator, SIA

Sarah Stauderman, Collections Care Manager, SIAKirsten Tyree, Conservation Technician, SIA

Anne Van Camp, Co-PIDirector, SI Archives

Please Visit Our Website athttp://mnh.si.edu/rc/fieldbooks/

Blog: http://nmnh.typepad.com/fieldbooks/

Flickr: http://tinyurl.com/fbpflickr

Follow us on Twitter!@FieldBookProj

Questions?Sonoe Nakasonenakasones@si.edu