NYBG's Virtual Herbarium Express software application

[Thiers, Barbara]

The New York Botanical Garden Herbarium now offers a free, downloadable
software system <http://www.nybg.org/bsci/vh/>  for entering data for
herbarium specimens.

Virtual Herbarium Express was designed for use in the field by New York
Botanical Garden scientists. It is now available to anyone else who wishes
to use it.  Virtual Herbarium Express <http://www.nybg.org/bsci/vh/>  can
serve as both a field and herbarium tool for small to mid-sized herbaria, or
as a starter system for a larger institution that wishes to gain experience
with an existing collection management software application before creating
their own. It is designed in the  Microsoft Access XP format and can run as
a standalone application on a desktop or notebook computer.

Collection information is entered in a simple data-entry form and stored in
relational tables. The form contains six screens accessible by tabs at the
top of the form. These screens - Collection, Determination, Location,
Features, Habitat, and Objects - organize the more than 75 fields into a
format promoting efficient data-entry. Authority files buttress the system.
These files are used to check the accuracy of the names of plants and people
and publications as they are entered. (For example, the program comes with a
table of over 71,000 people records and another of nearly 12,000
publications.)  A small subset of output formats is also provided, allowing
users to generate specimen labels, checklists, and collecting trip
itineraries.

Updates and new applications will be posted from time to time for
downloading, although the program will not be actively supported by NYBG,
due to funding constraints.  Although current funding does not permit
customization support for Virtual Herbarium Express, users are welcome to
modify the application to suit their own research needs, and are encouraged
to contribute additional forms, reports, or alternative table structures to
the online library.

Data Hosting
For institutions that use VH Express, but are not equipped to make their
specimen data available in a searchable catalog, we are willing to host that
institution's data as a separate catalog in the NYBG Virtual Herbarium. The
Virtual Herbarium Express software contains a utility that will format the
user's data, at the click of one button, so that it will be ready to send to
NY for hosting. For more details contact Tony Kirchgessner
(tkirchgessner at nybg.org) <mailto:tkirchgessner at nybg.org)> .

Dr. Barbara M. Thiers
Director, William and Lynda Steere Herbarium
New York Botanical Garden <http://www.nybg.org/bsci/>
Bronx, NY 10458-5126
Phone: 718-817-8622
fax: 718 817 8809
email: bthiers at nybg.org <mailto:bthiers at nybg.org>