[Nhcoll-l] Unique IDs for museum objects versus specimens

[Colin Favret]

Has anyone dealt with the distinction between issuing unique IDs (for
labels and database records) for museum objects versus specimens? A case in
point might be a microscope slide with 100 specimens on it (or a jar,
envelope, etc.). These specimens can be of multiple taxa, different sexes,
life stages, etc. I believe most collections label the museum object
(slide, jar, envelope, etc.) with a unique identifier and then treat the
specimens as a lot, but this doesn't fully parse out the data associated
with the various specimens in a specimen database.

I've developed my own solution (unique ID label for the object, decimal
numbers but no label for the individual specimens or specimen lots - e.g.
INST123456 for the slide, INST123456.001 for the first specimen lot,
INST123456.002 for the second, etc.).

But I'm wondering what others have done or if there is anything out there
approaching an industry standard.

Thanks for your input!

Colin

Colin Favret
Université de Montréal
Favret.AphidNet.org <http://favret.aphidnet.org/>
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