[Nhcoll-l] Barcodes and accession numbers

[Douglas Yanega]

In our insect collection management database, we try to adhere to DwC 
compliant fields. We assign every indivisible curatorial unit in our 
collection (be it pin, vial, or slide) with a GUID (globally unique) 
that is the primary reference point for served data. Historical 
accession numbers, lot numbers, and other NON-unique codes are retained, 
but in a separate, secondary field used specifically for that purpose, 
and we only serve the contents of this field internally or upon request. 
I think most collections try to follow this basic procedure, which is 
logical enough.

Where I see less consistency is how collections treat material bearing 
legacy GUIDs, or GUIDs assigned by other collections. Our database 
accommodates externally-generated GUIDs, to avoid pseudoreplication, but 
I am aware of collections where their "house database" will (by design 
or by policy) NOT accommodate externally-generated GUIDs, so they may 
have tens of thousands of specimens bearing multiple GUIDs. This pretty 
much defeats the principle of a GUID being unique, and I *really* don't 
like this practice. I have even seen cases where not only does a 
collection add a second GUID to each specimen, but they generate a 
complete set of data /de novo/, including georeferences; this results in 
data aggregators such as GBIF containing two data points for each 
specimen, often mapping to slightly different coordinates, and appearing 
to represent two specimens.

Peace,

-- 
Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82

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