Documenting Your Collections
Info-Muse Network Documentation Guide

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Specimen Collection (Specimen/Description)

Definition:

Observations:

1. For better search results in your database, avoid a large variety of terms; draw up an authority list and add keywords as necessary. Here is an example of an authority list:
   
   

   demonstration collection

   educational collection

   endangered species

   extinct species

   rare species

   reference collection

   research collection

2. This field may be used to indicate that a specimen is part of a group.

Entry rules:

1. Enter a keyword describing the contents of the collection, in keeping with the list established by your institution.
   Example

   	Discipline	ornithology
   	Genus	Gavia
   	Species	immer
   	Specimen Collection	educational collection

2. When you want to indicate that a specimen belongs to a group, simply enter the accession number of the first and last specimens in the group in the Specimen Collection field. Enter the first accession number, followed by a space, "to", another space and the last accession number.
   Example 1

   Record for a tennantile specimen (1994.30.2) that is part of a set of twelve specimens numbered from 1994.30.1 to 1994.30.12

   	Accession Number	1994.30.2
   	Discipline	mineralogy
   	Species	tennantile
   	Specimen Collection	1994.30.1 to 1994.30.12

   Example 2

   Record for a stellata specimen (2000.8.10) that is part of a lot of twenty specimens numbered from 2000.8.1 to 2000.8.20

   	Accession Number	2000.8.10
   	Discipline	ornithology
   	Genus	Gavia
   	Species	stellata
   	Specimen Collection	lot 2000.8.1 to 2000.8.20

3. This field may contain multiple entries separated by a semicolon followed by a space.
   Example

   	Discipline	botany
   	Genus	Allium
   	Species	tricoccum
   	Specimen Collection	reference collection; endangered species