EMu MODULE MATTERS

Collection events and Sites

To merge or not to merge…….

Dianne J BrayMuseum Victoria

Melbourne, Australia

Currently at MV

• Faunal disciplines use Collection Events and Sites – tailored with aquatic and terrestrial defaults and relevant tabs

• Geological and Palaeontological disciplines attach Site records directly to the Catalogue – do not use Collection Events

Issues• Sites module contains descriptive tabs & fields which

change over time – eg. in Port Phillip Bay, seagrass plentiful in Summer, but may be very sparse in winter

• Mapping Tab – no GIS fields, UTM fields inadequate, latitude and longitude coordinate fields not as precise as gps data

• Geology and Palaeontology attach Site records directly to the Catalogue– need to develop “Site” profiles (ie. mine site, mineral deposit site,

fossil site, faunal survey site) and link Catalogue records, relevant images, narratives, research papers etc. to a single site record

– however, agree that we need to collect precise and detailed locality data

Sites Module – Aquatic tab(additional aquatic tabs in Collection Events module)

Marine, estuarine, freshwater descriptors – not fixed for certain sites – eg. salinity in coastal embayments changes over time, as does species composition

Sites Module – Aquatic tab(additional aquatic tabs in Collection Events module)

Marine epifauna collected from marine algae – where should data which refers to algal host reside ??

….....OR…..in Collection Events??

Elevation data included here – whereas aquatic depth data resies in Collection Events

Collection Events module – Aquatic 1 tabCollection depth & bottom depth data

Collection Events module – Aquatic 2 tabAdditional aquatic data

Sites Module - Terrestrial tabVegetation is not fixed over time

(no additional terrestrial tabs in Collection Events)

At any given site, for example, an insect or reptile

may be collected from a single plant – where should that information reside??

Issues• Sites module contains descriptive tabs & fields which

change over time – eg. in Port Phillip Bay, seagrass plentiful in Summer, but may be very sparse in winter

• Mapping Tab – no GIS fields, UTM fields inadequate, latitude and longitude coordinate fields not as precise as gps data

• Geology and Palaeontology do not use Collection Events and attach Site records directly to the Catalogue– develop “Site” profiles (ie. mine site, mineral deposit site, fossil

site, faunal survey site) and link Catalogue records, relevant images, narratives, research papers etc. to a single site record

– however, agree that we need to collect precise and detailed locality data

Sites Module - Mapping tab – no MV tailoring

Issues• Sites module contains descriptive tabs & fields which

change over time – eg. in Port Phillip Bay, seagrass plentiful in Summer, but may be very sparse in winter

• Mapping Tab – no GIS fields, UTM fields inadequate, latitude and longitude coordinate fields not as precise as gps data

• Geology and Palaeontology do not use Collection Events but attach Site records directly to the Catalogue– develop “Site” profiles (ie. mine site, mineral deposit site, fossil

site, faunal survey site) and link Catalogue records, relevant images, narratives, research papers etc. to a single site record

– however, agree that we need to collect precise and detailed locality data

Sites module – Era Tab

Sites module – Notes tab

Sites module – Object tab

Sites module – Multimedia tab

NMNH (Smithsonian) solution

Have collapsed Sites into Collection Events – “are yet to ‘go live’ with merged version, but departments

all excited about the merger”Anna Weitzman NMNH

NMNH solution

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Options• Remove all habitat fields from Sites Module?• What about altitude fields – move to Collection Events

(where aquatic depth resides)?• Follow NMNH model?• Merge modules and use “Site code” then “Site number

for each collection event at a particular site• Merge modules, but develop “Parent/children” Site tabs

– Parent site record – attach data, images, references pertaining to an overall site (eg. a mine, faunal survey site) - include link to bibliography module on Parent for attachment of Site references

• Utilise EMu Users group to find natural history solution - reach agreement on common goals

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Thanks to:

Anna Weitzman NMNHJoanna McCaffrey FMNHTom Trombone AMNHMarion Raiser NMHPenny Berents AMMV colleagues