• Joint initiative between the National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution Archives

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

• Beginning as a Smithsonian-wide initiative and eventually including the entire biodiversity community.

Why the Field Book Project?

• Related field books are not co-located

• Current access points are varied, minimally descriptive:– Finding Aids– Inventory lists– Bibliographic library catalog records– Institutional memory

• No community-adopted standard

SI Department of Botany

Smithsonian Institution Archives

California Academy of Sciences Field

Books

Other Museum’s Field Books

Field Book Registry

Phase 1: Locally cataloged field books at the Smithsonian Institution

Phase 2: Partner institutions and the

larger community contribute field book records

SI Division of Birds

SI Division of Mammals

*Unpublished, original record of field events leading up to and including the collection of biological specimens.

Field books we catalog may include

• Specimen Lists / field catalogs• Journals with descriptions of specimen

collecting• Hand drawn or annotated maps of collecting

localities• Field sketches of specimens• Field photographs of specimens• Field correspondence

Not currently included in the project:• Published notes• Laboratory notes• Copied (photocopied, hand copied,

microfilmed) notes standing in for originals.

• Anthropological notes.• Geological notes unaccompanied by

paleobiological notes.

What do we consider Field Books?

Specimen list /journals

Photos of specimens in the field

Field sketches of specimens

Maps of collecting localities

Letters about collecting events

What is the Field Book Project Doing?

CatalogingCreating collection and item records for field books in:

– Department of Botany– Division of Birds– Division of Mammals– Smithsonian Libraries– Smithsonian Institution Archives

Supplemental funds support:• Preservation and Conservation• Digitization

NCD CollectionCollectionId: NCDC78Title: Edgar Alexander Mearns, field books, 1890-1924Owner: EACO15Creator: EACP07Description: 200 folders of Means's field notes on ornithological collecting and observations in the Philippines, Kenya, …

MODS Item MODSId: MODSI1281Collection: NCDC78Title: Field notes and Journal, March 25 - April 5, 1885Dates: 1881, 1885Creator: EACP07Expedition: EACE 0017Abstract: Mearns uses this journal to record his daily activities and lists of mostly birds and mammals seen during his natural history research …

EAC PersonPersonId: EACP07Name: Mearns, Edgar A.(Edgar Alexander), 1856-1916Dates: 1856-1916Biographical history: Edgar A. Mearns was a military doctor and prolific naturalist who collected birds, mammals, plants…

EAC ExpeditionExpId: EACE0017Name: Smithsonian-Roosevelt African ExpeditionDates: 1909-1911Description: Under former President Theodore Roosevelt, the Smithsonian Institution-Roosevelt African Expedition …

EAC OrganizationOrgId: EACO15Name: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Division of Birds

Cataloging Overview

Collection Record

• Describes context and provenance

• Specifies individual creators (people), geography, & subject matter covered

Item RecordRecords describe:• Dates• Collectors• Geography• Type of materials • Summary of field book

content and information collected

• Related expeditions, organizations, or individuals

People, Expeditions, Organizations

• Authorized form of name

• Dates – life and

death– expedition

dates– founding

and ending dates

• Biography

Preservation

Ex. Flattening and mending pages

Ex. Separating brittle pages

Test Bed DigitizationSupplemental funding through SIA for some digitization

• Digitizing field notes• Metadata• Entry of digitized field notes and records into the Field Book

Registry

Questions about digitization? Read: http://nmnh.typepad.com/fieldbooks/2011/10/digitizing-fieldbooks.html

Field Book Registry

Prototype• Approximately 5000 items cataloged

from 5 departments and multiple biodiversity disciplines.

• File Maker Pro

Field Book Registry

Islandora• Fedora and Drupal• Search/browse functions• Page delivery

Field Book Registry

Future of the Field Book Registry• Incorporating field notes outside of Smithsonian• Crowd sourced transcription• OCR• TaxonFinder• Social tagging• Data visualizations (timelines; maps)

AcknowledgementsRusty RussellCollections & Informatics, Botany

Carolyn Sheffield, Project ManagerSonoe Nakasone, Cataloging Coordinator

Lesley Parilla, Cataloger and Graphics DesignerEmily Hunter, Cataloger

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 CampDirector, SI Archives

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

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

Flickr: http://tinyurl.com/fbpflickr

Questions?Sonoe NakasoneCataloging Cooldinatornakasones@si.edu